EDUC.  DEPT. 


Manuals  of  religious  Education 
for  parents  and  teachers 

Edited  by  Charles  Foster  Kent 
In  collaboration  with  Sidney  A.  Weston 

CHILDHOOD  and  CHARACTER 

An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the 
Religious  Life  of  Children 


By  HUGH  HARTSHORNE 

Assistant  Professor  of  Religious  Education  in 
The  Union  Theological  Seminary 


THE    PILGRIM    PRESS 

{Department  of  Educational  Publications) 
BOSTON  CHICAGO 


L5  V  /  7  /s 

W  3 


COPTBIOHT  1919 

Bt  HUGH  HARTSHORNE 


SSi 


EOUC.  DEPT. 


THE  PILGRIM  PRESS 
BOSTON 


TO 


434 17G 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

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http://www.archive.org/details/childlioodcharactOOhartrich 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  an  effort  to  introduce  teachers  to  the 
study  of  childhood  religion  at  first  hand.  Its  aim  is 
increase  not  so  much  of  information  as  of  insight,  by 
thoughtful  observation  and  control  of  children.  It  is 
in  no  sense  a  substitute  for  boys  and  girls  as  objects  of 
study,  and  it  ^hould  be  used  as  a  way  of  learning  rather 
than  as  something  to  be  learned  —  a  guide  to  the  real 
facts,  which  are  living  children,  not  books. 

For  some  time  there  has  been  a  widely  felt  need  for 
a  book  that  will  unite  the  study  of  children  with  the 
study  of  society.  The  social  point  of  view  in  religion,  in 
psychology,  in  attitude  toward  youth,  has  not  so  far 
given  birth  to  a  text  for  the  guidance  of  teachers.  Most 
current  text-books  are  too  abstract,  too  general,  too 
Uttle  interested  in  problems  of  religious  development, 
too  individualistic  in  their  point  of  view,  or  too  crowded 
with  facts  of  lesser  importance.  They  leave  the  stu- 
dent with  an  idea  of  the  dissected  body  and  mind  of  "  the 
child,"  but  without  a  notion  of  children  Uving  in  the 
fellowship  of  a  social  whole  which  includes  them  as  well 
as  adults.  Young  and  old  together  constitute  society. 
The  youthful  ingredient  of  society  in  the  religious  aspect 
of  its  development  is  the  subject  of  this  volume. 

The  chapters  are  arranged  in  the  order  in  which  it  is 
felt  it  will  be  most  useful  to  read  them.  After  seeing 
the  point  of  view  from  which  the  subject  is  approached, 
the  reader  is  introduced  at  once  to  the  study  of  children, 
in  the  course  of  which  study  the  problem  of  how  to 


vi  PREFACE 

observe  the  religious  life  of  children  is  discussed.  The 
latter  part  of  the  book  deals  with  factors  that  enter 
into  the  education  of  children  in  religion.  A  bibUography 
and  a  considerable  amount  of  fresh  data  are  placed  in 
the  appendix. 

All  who  are  familiar  with  recent  psychological  and 
educational  literature  will  readily  recognize  the  author^s 
indebtedness  to  Edward  L.  Thorndike,  to  John  Dewey, 
and  especially  to  George  A.  Coe.  Special  thanks  are 
due  the  publishers  and  authors  who  generously  granted 
or  confirmed  permission  to  print  various  articles,  poems 
and  quotations,  acknowledgment  of  which  is  made  in 
the  text. 

H.  H. 

New  York, 
April  1, 1919. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 


Preface  v 

I    The  Point  of  Visiw  3 

II    Babies  7 

Foundations  of  the  Religious  Life 

III  Five-Year-Olds  24 

Achieving  Selfhood 

IV  Observing  the  Religious  Life  of  Children  45 

The  Science  of  Child  Study 

V    Little  Fellows  Six  to  Eight  60 

Helping  Children  Grow  in  the  Religious  Life 

VI    Likenesses  and  Differences  82 

Some  Facts  and  Laws 

VII    Boys  and  Girls  97 

The  Religious  Life  of  Later  Childhood 

VIII     The  Transition  118 

From  Childhood  to  Youth 

IX    Our  Inherited  Equipment  134 

The  Physical  Basis 

X    Our  Inherited  Equipment  {Continued)  147 

Nature's  Provision  for  Social  Living 

XI    Making  Over  Human  Nature  156 

Factors  in  the  Educational  Process 

1.  Action 

XII    Making  Over  Human  Nature  (Continued)  167 

2.  Thinking 

3.  Worship 

vU 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTBB  PAOB 

XIII  Motives  177 

The  Fourth  Factor  in  the  Educational  Process 

XIV  Health  191 

The  Relation  of  Health  to  Character 

XV    Work  and  Play  203 

Psychological  Relations 

XVI    Work  and  Play  (Continued)  217 

The  Educational  Use  of  Work,  Play  and  Recreation 

XVII    Character  229 

Discipline  for  Democracy 

APPENDIX 

I    Things  Children  Do  and  Say  241 

Part  I :  Stories  by  an  Eight-Year-Old  Girl 
Part  II :  Incidents  from  Child  Life 

II    Bibliography  268 

1.  On  Problems  of  Method 

2.  On  Facts  of  Behavior  and  Growth 

3.  Popular  Books  for  General  Reading 

4.  The  Moral  and  Religious  Nature  of  Children 

5.  Books  Containing  Data  for  Study 

6.  References  for  the  Several  Chapters 

III    Charts  276 

A.  Form  for  a  Chart  of  Social  Development 

B.  Coe's  Syllabus 

C.  Form  for  a  Time  Schedule 

Index  '  279 


CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  POINT  OF  VIEW 

Back  of  the  millions  of  money  and  the  millions  of 
men  and  women  devoted  to  the  welfare  and  nurture 
of  the  young,  there  hes  a  deeper  interest  than  the  love 
of  children.  This  more  insistent  demand  upon  our  time 
and  effort  is  made  by  the  call  of  the  ideal  society.  To 
some,  this  is  the  perpetuation  of  the  present  social  order 
through  the  passing  on  of  all  that  is  deemed  best  in  the 
present  and  the  past.  To  others,  the  future  society 
takes  more  definite  form  in  the  picture  of  a  purified 
nation,  from  which  personal  and  poHtical  corruption 
has  been  removed.  Others  see  ahead  a  theocracy  in 
which  every  individual  shall  have  his  appointed  place, 
whether  as  subject  to  the  will  of  a  ruling  tradition,  or  as 
custodian  and  interpreter  of  this  tradition  and  its  sup- 
posed benefits.  But  more  and  more  the  minds  of 
thoughtful  people  are  being  captivated  by  the  vision  of 
the  New  Democracy,  the  coming,  not  the  old,  social 
order,  super-national,  super-ecclesiastical,  whose  motive 
is  love,  whose  ideal  is  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and 
whose  destiny  is  the  commonwealth  of  God. 

The  child  is  in  our  midst  in  a  sense  far  more  signifi- 
cant than  as  an  object  of  curiosity  or  of  concern  for  his 
own  future  happiness.  That  his  soul  must  be  saved  is 
only  a  half  truth.  To  be  sure  it  must,  and  precious  is 
every  son  of  man  in  the  eyes  of  an  all-loving  God.    But 

3 


AM  ;••:  ;-idHn:.t)fiO'aD.''AND  CHARACTER 

saved  for  what?  And  saved  how?  There  is  something 
more  important  than  the  child  whose  soul  we  are  intent 
upon  saving  —  more  important  because  without  it 
there  is  no  sense  in  which  his  salvation  has  any  mean- 
ing, any  more  than  has  his  present  Ufe.  There  never 
would  be  any  soul  to  save  were  it  not  for  the  other  souls 
in  the  midst  of  whose  ministrations  and  in  the  presence  of 
whose  visible  acts  the  "  candidate  for  personahty  "  is 
living  and  growing.  The  child  does  not  exist  in  any 
"  pure  "  or  unrelated  or  unattached  way  as  an  inde- 
pendent individual,  but  is  in  his  very  essence  a  one  of 
many.  Whatever  may  be  the  all-inclusive  society,  the 
ideal  society,  toward  which  we  move,  the  individual's 
salvation  must  be  related  to  it,  and  indeed  must  consist 
in  some  sort  of  permanent  and  all-to-be-desired  life 
within  it.  Apart  from  the  social  whole,  the  personal 
life  has  no  permanent  meaning. 

To  have  made  education  completely  child-centered 
was  the  splendid  achievement  of  the  nineteenth  century : 
"  The  child's  interests  must  rule,  and  the  child's  interest 
must  determine  the  form  of  family  and  school  Ufe;  all 
adult  affairs  must  give  way  before  the  insistent  demands 
of  child-nature;  King  Child  is  on  the  throne  and  must 
be  obeyed."  That  such  a  view  contains  fundamental 
truth  no  one  will  deny.  But  it  is  quite  as  one-sided  as 
the  previous  reign  of  King  Grown-up.  The  twentieth 
century  has  dethroned  King  Child,  and  is  teaching  him 
that  he  must  take  his  proper  place  as  a  citizen  with  in- 
creasing rights  and  duties  in  the  new  democracy.  De- 
mocracy is  concerned,  not  merely  with  the  separate 
interests  of  either  children  or  adults,  but  with  the  in- 
terests of  all  persons,  young  and  old,  wherever  they  may 
happen  to  live. 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  5 

As  this  point  of  view  is  fundamental  to  all  our  suc- 
ceeding work,  let  us  formulate  briefly  its  various  factors : 

"1.  Man  has  a  destiny  that  is  conceived  to  be  some 
kind  of  superior  activity.  This  superior  activity  is  self- 
directed  and  essentially  satisfying.  Superior  activity 
can  be  achieved  only  by  experience  in  its  two-fold  as- 
pect of  activity  within  the  relation  to  be  perfected,  and 
reflection  upon  that  activity  and  its  purpose. 

"  2.  Education  is  the  process  by  which  the  ideals  of 
man's  destiny  become  gradually  incarnated  in  the 
fabric  of  society  and  the  characters  of  its  individual 
members.  Religion  defines  man's  destiny  as  a  social 
destiny,  or  a  superior  activity  which  is  not  only  self- 
directed  and  essentially  satisfying,  but  which  is  also 
socially  motived.  Man's  social  destiny  is  to  be  achieved 
only  through  social  experience  progressively  understood 
and  directed.  Religious  education,  therefore,  is  the 
process  by  which  the  individual,  in  response  to  a  con- 
trolled environment,  achieves  a  progressive,  conscious, 
social  adjustment,  dominated  by  the  spirit  of  brother- 
hood, and  so  directed  as  to  promote  the  growth  of  a 
social  order  based  on  regard  for  the  worth  and  destiny 
of  every  individual. 

"3.  The  process  of  reUgious  education  takes  place 
as  the  individual  Uves  among  people,  comes  into  touch 
with  the  highest  type  of  spiritual  hfe  in  the  present  and 
in  the  past,  and  responds  to  this  Hfe  and  this  ideal  by 
developing  the  habits,  attitudes  and  purposes  that  serve 
to  give  range  and  direction  to  the  constructive  social 
tendencies,  and  to  hold  in  check  or  direct  or  convert 
such  tendencies  as  are  destructive  of  the  social  good. 
Identical  with  the  process  of  reUgious  education  is  the 
individual's   increasing   participation   in    the    worship, 


6  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

work  and  fellowship  of  the  world,  and  his  increasing 
contribution  to  its  progress  toward  the  social  ideal. 

"  4.  In  order  that  this  development  of  the  individual 
may  take  place,  society  must  provide  for  every  child : 

"  a.  A  community  dominated  by  the  spirit  of  brother- 
hood, whose  individual,  cooperative  and  institutional 
activities  in  worship,  work  and  fellowship  he  may 
imitate  and  share. 

"  b.  Within  this  community,  definite  training  for 
skill  in  these  activities,  and  in  their  intelligent  direction 
and  control  through  study  and  discussion. 

"  5.  The  goal  of  reHgious  education  for  the  individual 
is  thus  seen  to  be  the  completely  sociaUzed  will,  expressed 
in  a  life  which  is  sharing  increasingly  in  the  knowledge 
and  work  of  an  eternal  society,  and  in  the  joy  ot  human 
and  divine  companionship  —  in  a  word,  world-citizen- 
ship. 

*'  The  goal  of  reHgious  education  for  society  is  the 
reorganization  of  institutions  and  enterprises  in  such  a 
way  as  to  provide  for  all  individuals  the  stimulus  of  the 
reHgious  heritage  of  the  race,  and  equal  opportunities 
for  health,  education,  work,  play  and  worship  —  in  a 
word,  world-brotherhood.''^ 

^Religious  Education,  June,  1917. 


CHAPTER  II 

BABIES 

Foundations  of  the  Religious  Life 

During  their  first  three  years,  children  are  laying 
foundations  of  selfhood,  of  individualized  personality. 
They  are  building  up  an  experience  with  which  to  fare 
forth  into  the  world.  They  are  preparing  to  proceed 
under  their  own  steam  and  without  orders. 

The  Baby's  Mind.  It  is  hard  for  us  to  realize  the 
utter  emptiness  of  the  baby's  mind.  WilUam  James 
has  somewhat  ambiguously  referred  to  the  child's  world 
as  a  big,  blooming,  buzzing  confusion.  But  confusion- 
impHes  a  contrast  with  an  already  organized  experi- 
ence, and  the  baby  has  no  such  standard  of  comparison. 
Furthermore,  we  are  conscious  only  of  what  we  react 
to,  and  the  baby  reacts  only  to  simple  and  selected 
stimuU.  His  consciousness,  so  far  as  it  exists,  has  to 
acquire  definiteness.  He  has  to  learn  to  give  more  than 
fleeting  attention  to  any  one  thing.  His  mind  is  perhaps 
in  something  the  same  condition  as  ours  is  when  we  look 
at  a  bright  jewel  so  hard  that  everything  else  fades  out 
of  our  vision.  We  see  and  feel  nothing  but  that  jewel. 
That  is  all  there  is  to  our  consciousness  —  as  though 
we  were  identified  with  the  bright  object  and  it  were  the 
sum  and  substance  of  hfe  for  us.  Everything  else  is 
emptiness.  Our  consciousness  has  no  margin.  Now  if 
we  can  imagine  this  narrow  field  of  consciousness  to 
shift  from  one  sensation  to  another,  each  sensation  being 


8  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

for  the  moment  the  sum  total  of  consciousness,  we  will 
approximate  what  the  child's  mind  must  be  like.  It  is 
very  simple  and  vague,  and  probably  chiefly  a  sense  of 
pleasure  or  pain,  of  satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction. 

The  repetition  of  experiences  that  satisfy  and  that 
annoy  gradually  builds  up  a  broader  mental  field. 
There  are  memories  and  expectations  as  well  as  imme- 
diate pleasures  and  pains.  Certain  events,  hke  having 
a  bottle,  are  associated  with  certain  other  events, 
such  as  a  feeUng  of  hunger  followed  by  a  feeling  of  satis- 
faction, or  with  the  appearance  of  the  same  visual, 
tactile  and  aural  stimuli  caused  by  the  approach  and  the 
voice  of  the  mother.  Certain  bonds  are  being  fixed 
between  definite  situations  and  definite  responses,  so 
that  the  repetition  of  the  situations  sets  going  the 
responses.  At  first  only  the  whole  situation  effects  the 
response,  only  the  mother  plus  the  bottle  plus  the  milk 
plus  the  feeling  of  the  strong  arms  and  the  sound  of  the 
comforting  voice.  But  gradually  the  response  of  feed- 
ing is  made  or  attempted  to  one  or  another  part  of  this 
total  situation.  The  appearance  of  the  mother  may  start 
going  the  sucking  motion  of  jaw  and  Hps  and  the  wriggle 
of  arms  and  legs  that  show  an  expectation  of  being  picked 
up.  If  no  bottle  comes  with  the  mother  and  the  baby  is 
hungry,  there  is  annoyance,  and  the  baby  cries,  unless 
other  satisfactions  crowd  out  the  disappointment. 

The  Basis  of  Morality.  Such  simple  bonds  are 
being  made  in  considerable  numbers  as  the  result  of  what 
grown  persons  do.  The  more  regular  the  treatment 
by  grown  persons,  the  more  quickly  will  the  baby  get 
meaning  out  of  his  experiences,  and  learn  the  signals  or 
part-situations  that  indicate  what  is  going  to  happen. 
If  the  display  of  the  bonnet  and  the  cheerful  "  we're 


BABIES  9 

going  out  now,"  is  always  followed  by  a  ride,  it  will 
always  mean  a  ride.  If  it  is  sometimes  followed  by  a 
ride  and  sometimes  not,  it  will  not  be  understood,  and 
baby  will  be  confused  and  helpless  or  unresponsive. 
The  same  is  true  of  all  the  other  signals  we  give.  They 
must  be  uniform  to  be  intelligible  and  effective.  If 
baby  has  learned  from  experience  what  the  objectiona- 
ble, but  common,  "  mamma  spank  "  means,  and  then 
the  phrase  is  used  as  an  unfulfilled  threat,  it  will  lose 
force  as  a  means  of  control.  Or  if  punishment  follows 
some  misdeed  one  day  but  not  the  next,  or  if  the  same 
punishment  follows  a  wilful  disobedience  or  harmful 
act  as  is  attached  to  some  harmless  prank,  the  child  has 
no  basis  for  forming  any  independent  moral  standards. 
His  world  is  arbitrary  and  erratic:  he  will  be  arbitrary 
and  erratic.  With  no  definite  and  recurring  associations 
between  conduct  and  standards  of  conduct,  his  action 
will  be  determined  not  by  standards  nor  by  habits, 
but  by  caprice  or  the  effort  to  escape  punishment. 
A  moral  being  can  be  produced  only  by  a  moral 
environment. 

We  all  understand  how  our  interpretation  of  new 
experiences  is  based  upon  our  old  experiences,  how  the 
old  comes  forth  to  meet  and  absorb  the  new.  We  see 
all  things  through  the  colored  glasses  of  our  experience. 
Each  step  depends  on  what  precedes,  and  each  step 
influences  all  that  follows.  The  further  back  we  go,  the 
more  important,  therefore,  is  our  experience.  If  our 
first  experiences  are  with  a  harsh,  unsympathetic,  auto- 
cratic and  irregular  social  environment,  we  grow  up 
with  this  sort  of  an  experience  as  our  only  means  of 
interpreting  the  world,  and  our  whole  life  is  warped  and 
twisted   because   of   it.     It   is   exceedingly   important, 


10  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

therefore,  that  every  effort  be  made,  from  the  earliest 
beginning  of  consciousness,  to  provide  a  sane,  loving, 
iust  treatment,  unvarying  in  its  rules  and  promises  and 
routine. 

The  Basis  of  Self-Control.  Such  regularity  of 
treatment  not  only  provides  the  foundation  in  experi- 
ence for  the  growth  of  ideas  of  order  and  justice,  but 
also  establishes  the  definite  habits  that  constitute  the 
basis  of  self-control.  Before  the  age  of  four  or  five  such 
self-control  is,  of  course,  rather  mechanical.  All  it 
means  is  that  this  little  bit  of  humanity  will  perform 
certain  acts  not  only  at  the  moment  when  his  mother  is 
present  to  require  it  of  him,  but  also  when  she  is  not 
present.  If  in  his  creeping  voyages  of  discovery  he 
has,  by  proper  training,  acquired  the  habit  of  not  touch- 
ing certain  books  on  low  shelves,  he  will  refrain  from 
touching  them  without  physical  restraint.  If  he  has 
not  acquired  any  such  habit,  he  will  have  to  be  constantly 
controlled  from  outside  and  will  lack  the  kind  of  experi- 
ence which  can  be  developed  as  time  goes  on  into  con- 
scious choice  of  acts;  for,  as  Royce  says,  one  cannot 
.choose  effectively  to  do  what  one  has  not  already  done. 

In  building  up  a  world  of  order,  where  things  happen 
in  ways  which  can  be  anticipated,  the  child  is  laying  the 
foundation  of  the  sense  of  justice  and  of  moral  law  that 
will  come  as  he  grows  older.  And  in  acquiring  habits  of 
regular  and  correct  response  to  the  regularly  recurring 
situations  of  his  limited  world,  he  is  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  the  self-control  which  his  growing  consciousness 
of  self  will  one  day  recognize  as  his  own. 

The  Common  Consciousness.  Consciousness  is  a 
social  product.  What  the  baby  is  aware  of  is  determined 
by  what  the  mother  and  nurse  and  father  and  older 


BABIES  11 

brother  and  sister  decide  upon.  He  is  fed  and  bathed 
and  played  with  by  persons  who  are  themselves  con- 
scious of  certain  things.  I]^_Jbaby^  consciousness  is  a 
reflection  of  theirs.  His  instinctive  tendencies  find 
expression  in  the  channels  which  their  minds  have  al- 
ready laid  out.  Everything  he  touches  is  a  human 
product  or  is  interpreted  by  the  uses  to  which  human 
inteUigence  has  put  it.  His  daily  regimen  on  the  basis  of 
which  he  is  gaining  a  sense  of  order  and  of  goodness  is 
planned  by  others.  Whatever  mind  he  has  is  so  built  up, 
therefore,  as  to  fit  in  with  other  minds.  His  mind  is 
other  minds.  Their  consciousness  is  his,  and  he  has  no 
other. 

But  it  is  not  only  in  his  notions  about  the  world  of 
things  that  he  is  reflecting  the  minds  of  others.  He  also 
picks  up  their  attitudes  and  moods.  Just  what  the 
mechanism  of  his  emotional  sympathy  is  is  uncertain. 
It  may  be  that  the  subtle  facial  expressions  associated 
with  elemental  emotions  such  as  fear  are  instinctively 
responded  to  by  the  baby  in  such  a  way  as  to  arouse  the 
same  mood  in  him.  At  least  he  will  frequently  show 
signs  of  similar  emotion  even  though  the  object  which 
stirred  the  emotion  in  his  elders  is  absent  or  entirely 
incapable  of  affecting  him.  At  all  events,  Jbhie  color 
of  the  family  consciousness  is  in  some  way  responded  to 
by  the  children,  and  they  either  absorb  it  or  react  against 
it.  They  are  happy  when  the  rest  are  happy,  sad  when 
they  are  sad,  nervous  when  they  are  nervous,  calm  when 
they  are  calm,  cross  when  they  are  cross.  They  are  at 
one  with  the  rest.  Their  consciousness  is  a  common 
consciousness. 

Professor  Kirkpatrick*  gives  several  instances  of  be- 

1  Tht  Individual  in  the  Making,  pp.  70,  80. 


12  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

havior  which  illustrate  this  reflection  of  the  feehngs  of 
others : 

"  Girl  of  fifteen  months.  Nearly  always  smiles,  even  if  crying, 
when  anyone  smiles  at  her." 

"  Girl  of  twenty-two  months  says  *  cry  '  in  a  pathetic  tone  when 
looking  at  a  picture  of  some  one  crying.  She  did  this  once  when 
only  the  attitude  indicated  grief." 

"  Girl  of  two  years.  She  heard  some  one  say  in  an  expressive 
tone,  '  I  was  scared  when  I  saw  how  much  oatmeal  there  was.' 
She  dropped  her  spoon  and  seemed  afraid  of  the  oatmeal  she  was 
about  to  eat  until  reassured  regarding  it." 

"  Boy  three  years.  His  mother  was  uneasy,  not  knowing  where 
his  sister  was,  but  said  nothing  about  it  and  tried  not  to  show  it. 
Soon  he  said  he  wished  he  could  see  his  sister,  and  finally,  '  I  am 
not  happy,  Mamma,'  evidently  having  caught  the  feeUng  from  his 
mother." 

Premonitions  of  Selfhood.  The  process  by  which 
this  common  consciousness  is  broken  up  into  parts 
corresponding  to  individuals  is  gradual.  At  first  even 
the  body  is  not  distinguished  from  other  objects.  By 
getting  a  double  sensation  when  touching  one  part  of 
the  body  with  another,  as  when  the  hand  hits  the  toes, 
a  difference  is  distinguished  which  in  time  becomes 
standardized.  It  seems  necessary,  however,  to  have  all 
sorts  of  sensations  on  every  part  of  the  body  before  the 
distinction  between  the  body  and  other  objects  is  com- 
plete, if  it  ever  is  complete.  A  child  was  observed  to 
bump  her  head  against  her  bed.  Feeling  her  head  in  a 
puzzled  way,  she  went  up  to  the  bed  and  bumped  her 
head  purposely.  Another  child  of  three  bit  her  fingers 
till  one  bled  to  see  if  the  fingers  were  a  part  of  herself.^ 
Then  comes  the  time  when,  sometimes  seriously,  some- 
times in  play,  the  children  look  upon  all  objects  as  just 

1  Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.,  op.  cit.,  p.  82. 


BABIES  13 

like  themselves.  Trees,  animals,  persons,  dolls,  all  are 
treated  alike,  with  the  expectation  that  they  can  under- 
stand the  usual  signals  by  which  wants  are  made  known, 
and  will  do  as  they  are  told.  This,  however,  may  be 
largely,  if  not  wholly,  the  result  of  the  way  others  talk 
to  children  about  inanimate  objects  and  animals,  as 
having  thoughts  and  feelings,  and  as  being  able  to  talk. 

But  the  gradual  growth  of  an  independent  train  of 
memories,  tied  up  with  the  individual  tendencies  to 
behavior  that  more  and  more  emerge  in  consciousness 
as,  "  baby  wants  this,"  or  "  baby  wants  that,"  begins 
to  reveal  to  the  child  that  consciousness  is  not  general 
but  individual.  Naturally  he  does  not  use  these  words. 
He  just  is  conscious,  now  and  then,  of  a  difference. 
He  has  desires  that  do  not  all  meet  with  approval. 
His  activities  are  broken  into  by  others.  He  is  aware 
that  people  laugh  at  some  kinds  of  acts  and  frown  at 
other  kinds.  He  discovers  that  among  the  signals  he 
is  learning  to  use  there  is  one  that  refers  to  himself,  and 
others  that  refer  to  other  persons.  This  difference, 
between  baby  and  mother,  say,  is  at  first  the  same  as 
between  kitty  and  mother.  But  around  the  idea  of 
baby  there  come  to  be  associated  these  thwarted  desires, 
these  approvals  and  disapprovals,  so  that  these  experi- 
ences become  "  baby's  "  experiences. 

The  next  step,  or  better,  the  next  stage,  for  it  comes 
rather  as  the  tide  comes,  in  waves  that  roll  farther  and 
farther  up  the  shore  —  the  next  stage  is  the  "  I  "  stage, 
where  the  thinker  becomes  aware  that  the  thinker's  and 
the  "  baby's  "  experiences  are  the  same  thing,  set  over 
against  other  thinkers  or  "  I's  "  who  do  not  have  the 
same  experiences.  This  separation  is  never  complete 
in  any  of  us.     In  mob  action,  to  which  we  all  are  sus- 


14  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

V  ceptible,  this  distinction  between  self  and  others  is  broken 
down,  and  the  individual  is  "  lost  "  in  the  crowd  much 
as  he  was  when  a  baby.  All  of  us  are  more  or  less 
"  suggestible."  That  is,  all  of  us  respond,  without  any- 
inhibiting  thoughts  of  our  own,  to  many  ideas  and 
situations  presented  by  others.  We  eat  what  is  set 
before  us.  We  dress  as  fashion  dictates.  We  are 
colloquial  in  ideas  and  words  and  behavior.  Out  of 
this  mass  of  suggested  and  uncriticized  behavior  the 
child  slowly  emerges  to  a  certain  level  which  he  maintains 
till  adolescence  brings  its  new  experiences  to  send  the 
consciousness  of  self  shooting  still  higher. 

These  emergings  of  the  consciousness  of  self  begin^to^ 
appear  with  the  use  of  language.  There  is  a  good  deal 
of  the  experimental  about  them,  as  though  the  child  were 
playing  with  a  new  toy  to  see  what  it  would  do.  With 
each  new  success  in  independent  action,  he  gains  more 
confidence,  till  one  day  he  will  deliberately  "  disobey," 
just  to  see  what  will  happen. 

If  this  separation  of  the  self  from  the  common  con- 
sciousness takes  place  too  rapidly,  before  there  is  suf- 
ficient experience  to  give  it  body  and  substance,  there  is 
danger  that  the  child  will  become  morbidly  self-conscious 
—  a  person  set  apart,  lacking  in  sympathy  and  unre- 
sponsive to  the  group  Hfe.  When  punishment,  which 
usually  disrupts  the  common  consciousness,  is  not 
accompanied  by  some  means  of  restoring  the  child  to  the 
common  hfe,  it  is  a  deadly  weapon,  especially  later  in 
childhood.  Continuous  disapproval  unrelieved  by  a 
sharing  of  interests  with  a  child  is  almost  certain  to  make 
the  child  either  "  self-willed  "  or  "  sullen  "  or  openly 
obedient  while  inwardly  rebellious.  Too  much  atten- 
.  tion  leads  to  similar  results.     Display  before  strangers. 


BABIES  15 

doing  tricks  to  make  friends  laugh,  being  the  center  of 
interest  constantly  for  any  cause  at  all,  carries  in  its 
train  a  host  of  problems  in  the  achievement  of  a  normal 
personality  that  ought  never  to  arise.  Far  better  is 
it  for  the  child  to  come  into  the  possession  of  himself 
through  the  normal  processes  of  social  Uving,  in  which 
adjustments  to  the  group  life  are  gradually  made,  and  in 
which  he  is  able  to  discover  himself  not  as  the  cynosure 
of  admiring  eyes  but  as  a  member  of  a  cooperating  house- 
hold working  together  for  some  recognized  common 
interests. 

As  the  child  lays  the  foundation  for  self-control  and 
a  sense  of  an  ordered  universe  through  his  regimen  of 
daily  hving  and  consistent  treatment,  so  does  he  lay  the 
foundation  for  social-mindedness  in  the  attitudes  that 
he  picks  up  from  his  associates  and  in  the  kind  of  a  self 
that  they  encourage  in  him. 

Laying  the  Foundations  op  Religion 

1.  The  Sense  of  Justice  and  Order.  The  child's 
capacity  for  rehgion  does  not  begin  at  any  one  moment. 
It  comes  gradually,  just  as  his  consciousness  of  selfhood 
comes  gradually.  The  child  can  be  rehgious  just  as 
soon  as  he  can  be  a  person  and  maintain  a  self-directed 
relation  to  other  persons.  But  the  nature  of  this  child- 
hood rehgion,  which  comes  into  its  own  between  the 
ages  of  four  and  six,  depends  on  what  has  happened  to  the 
individual  during  the  preceding  years.  His  religious  de- 
velopment may  be  greatly  facilitated  or  greatly  hindered 
according  as  its  foundations  are  wisely  or  unwisely  laid. 

The  necessity  of  providing  an  ordered  experience  as 
the  basis  of  a  sense  of  justice  has  already  been  suggested* 
Children's    minds    work   logically.    Not    distorted    by 


16  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

prejudices,  they  go  directly  to  a  conclusion  from  the 
facts  offered.  A  boy  three  years  and  eight  months  old 
prayed  that  God  would  make  all  the  days  Sundays  so 
that  papa  would  be  home  all  the  time.  He  had  thought 
that  all  out  by  himself.  This  is  an  example  of  how  babies 
put  two  and  two  together  in  ways  that  often  startle  us. 
The  results  are  of  course  often  absurd  from  our  point  of 
view,  just  as  the  ideas  of  savages  seem  absurd.  But  with 
the  same  data,  the  same  vague  ideas  to  work  with,  we 
would  do  about  as  well.  Listen  to  people  talking  about 
something  about  which  they  know  little  or  nothing,  but 
about  which  you  know  a  great  deal!  Women  are  amused 
at  men's  comments  on  dressmaking,  and  men  heretofore 
have  been  amused  at  women's  struggles  to  make  sense 
out  of  a  political  platform,  which,  again,  seems  to  the 
economist  so  stupid  a  document.  It  is  not  the  com- 
ments of  the  imbecile  that  amuse  us,  but  the  comments 
of  the  intelUgent  upon  an  unfamiliar  subject.  So  the 
children  amuse  us  by  their  efforts  to  build  a  world  out 
of  nothing. 

Some  sort  of  a  world  they  are  going  to  build,  and  it 
will  be  a  reasonable  world,  a  world  governed  by  law. 
The  law  may  be,  ''  Insist  on  having  your  own  way  and 
you'll  get  it,"  or,  "  Wheedling  pays,"  or,  "  Do  unto 
others  as  they  do  unto  you,"  or,  *'  Crying  hurries  the 
bottle."  Or  it  may  be,  "  There's  no  use  fussing,"  or, 
"  To  put  away  toys  is  part  of  the  game,"  or,  "  Trying 
always  pleases,"  or,  "  Penalties  never  fail,"  or,  "  Mother 
knows  best,"  or,  "  Love  rules."  It  is  hard  to  put  into 
words  the  rudimentary  ideas  of  babies.  Yet  they  seem 
to  understand  far  more  than  they  can  themselves  formu- 
late, and  can  get  meanings  long  before  they  can  communi- 
cate meanings  in  words.     From  the  day  they  are  born 


BABIES  17 

their  training  begins,  and  the  impressions  are  being 
made  which  will  gradually  broaden  out  into  a  knowledge 
of  the  world.  If  love  never  fails  —  or,  faiUng,  acknowl-" 
edges  its  failure  —  if  the  grown-up  world  gives  evidence 
of  being  controlled  by  a  beneficent  purpose  and  not  by 
selfishness,  if  "to  be  good  "  is  associated  with  the 
maintenance  of  the  common  consciousness  rather  than 
with  the  whims  and  fancies  of  petulant  parents;  in 
other  words,  if  the  child  is  born  into  and  lives  in  a  Chris- 
tian family,  there  is  some  chance  of  his  waking  up  some 
day  to  find  himself  a  Christian.  God  can  mean  vastly 
more  to  a  child  who  has  experienced  justice  and  love 
than  he  can  to  a  child  to  whom  justice  and  love  are. 
foreign.  To  such  an  unfortunate,  God,  if  the  name 
be  used  at  all,  will  be  a  word  to  conjure  with,  or  a  reckless 
and  terrible  Being  to  fear.  There  will  be  no  possibility 
of  aspiration  toward  the  good,  nor  of  the  organization^ 
of  the  tender  character  in  terms  of  an  ideal  person,  unless 
there  is  some  just,  permanent  and  loving  Standard  in 
the  child's  experience  to  which  he  can  refer,  and  upon, 
whose  approval  he  can  count.  And  as  yet,  his  standard 
is  a  person,  not  a  formula.  His  associates,  therefore, 
need  more  carefully  to  adopt  something  of  the  inflexi- 
biUty,  the  decisiveness  and  uncompromising  clearness  of 
a  definitely  stated  standard.  Granted  such  an  ideal 
environment,  the  child  can  easily  aspire  toward  something 
bigger  and  better  than  himself  and  can  conserve  his 
achievements  by  his  sense  of  parental  approval.  And 
this  effort  is,  for  the  baby,  religion. 

2.  Foundations  in  Habits.  Religion  is  more  than 
aspiration  and  more  than  a  philosophy  of  life.  It  is 
life  itself  improving  itself.  It  is  mind  at  work  upon 
the  problem  of  being  a  person,  of  moving  toward  the 


18  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

achievement  of  the  personal  ideal.  Spiritual  progress  is 
not  made  apart  from  the  hard  facts  of  every-day  physical 
living.  A  good  man  is  not  one  who  spins  beautiful 
ideals  the  while  he  curses  his  neighbor  for  disturbing 
him  in  the  process.  Character  is  physiological.  It  is 
an  equipment  as  well  as  a  purpose.  It  implies  that  a 
person  can  do  what  he  would  do. 

This  moral  machinery  of  living  the  child,  too,  must 
begin  to  build,  if  he  is  to  acquire  character.  The  babies 
in  the  cradles  are,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  beginning  to  build 
this  machinery  from  the  moment  they  make  any  re- 
sponse at  all  to  human  beings,  which  is  right  soon.  The 
foundations  of  long  standing  habits  are  being  laid  from 
the  very  beginning.  If  these  foundations  are  weak  and 
shaky  in  view  of  the  building  that  is  to  be  built  on  them, 
there  will  be  a  general  disaster  later  in  the  form  of  a 
weak  and  shaky  individual. 

The  secret  of  our  modern  success  in  bringing  up  babies 
lies  just  in  this  definite  training  in  habits  that  will  count 
for  future  living  —  habits  of  eating,  sleeping,  playing, 
waiting,  and  so  on,  that  enable  the  child  to  take  his 
place  in  the  family  life  rather  than  make  the  family 
life  take  its  place  in  the  baby's  daily  schedule.  Such 
harmonious  functioning  as  will  promote  general  good 
feeling  is  a  distinct  contribution  to  the  kind  of  atmos- 
phere that  favors  the  growth  of  Christian  sweetness  of 
temper.  Regularity  in  daily  living  becomes  conscious, 
and  consciously  desired,  only  if  it  is  already  experienced 
and  found  desirable.  And  if  this  regularity  is  a  part  of  a 
family  regimen,  the  emergence  of  it  in  consciousness  will 
carry  with  it  the  recognition  of  the  family  regimen  and  the 
desirability  of  choosing  to  work  with  the  family  rather 
than  against  it. 


BABIES  ^  19 

Those  who  have  seen  babies  growing  up  with  the  ex- 
pectation of  "  having  their  own  way  "  irrespective  of  the 
effect  of  their  own  way  on  others  reahze  how  frequent 
are  the  disruptions  of  harmony,  and  how  irregular  the 
happiness  of  all  concerned.  License  breeds  Hcense,  and 
the  process  of  overcoming  the  essentially  self-centered 
point  of  view  that  is  the  outgrowth  of  such  a  scheme  of 
life  is  exceedingly  painful.  A  child  brought  up  as  one'~ 
member  of  a  cooperating  group  into  whose  life  he  is 
made  to  fit  until  the  desire  to  cooperate  is  born  of  the 
satisfactions  such  cooperation  brings  has  no  such  diffi- 
culty in  adjusting  himself  to  the  common  life.  He  has^ 
acquired  the  habits  on  the  basis  of  which  his  ideals  and 
purposes,  as  fast  as  he  becomes  conscious  of  them,  can 
be  built  into  the  structure  of  character. 

3.  Foundations  in  Attitudes.  No  less  important 
for  rehgion  are  the  attitudes  that  are  generated  in  the 
child's  mind  during  these  early  months  of  first  experi- 
ences. The  deHberate  cultivation  of  habitual  attitudes 
that  characterize  the  Christian  religion  is  entirely  pos- 
sible if  we  apply  the  laws  of  learning  to  the  process.  > 
Attitudes  are  the  antecedents  of  ideas  and  purposes.  - 
They  are  our  virgin  responses  to  all  that  affects  us.  It 
is  the  attitudes  of  our  friends  that  most  interest  us,  not 
the  words  they  use  in  expressing  them.  They  can  be 
expressed  without  words  in  the  universal  language  of 
facial  expressions  and  gestures.  The  expression,  to  be 
sure,  can  be  imitated  and  assumed,  but  not  the  attitude. 
We  need  assurance  of  the  way  our  friends  feel  toward  us, 
not  of  the  way  they  think  of  us.  Love  covereth  a 
multitude  of  sins.  The  open-hearted  acceptance  of 
friends  is  the  basis  of  all  higher  social  intercourse. 

These  attitudes  toward  persons  and  toward  behavior 


20  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

begin  to  be  formed  very  early.  The  flavor  of  family 
life  is  reflected  in  the  faces  of  the  little  tots  before  they 
can  talk.  The  disposition  of  good-will  or  the  disposition 
of  cantankerousness  is  easily  cultivated  by  the  way  the 
baby  is  treated  by  mother  or  nurse,  and  by  the  way 
mother  and  nurse  and  father  and  brother  and  sister 
treat  one  another  in  the  baby's  presence.  The  preva- 
-lence  of  unchristian  attitudes  in  the  family  relation- 
ships is  almost  certain  to  promote  the  same  attitudes 
and  the  same  customary  emotions  in  the  heart  of  the 
.baby.  If  their  opposites  can  be  made  the  law  of  the 
family,  the  baby  will  gain  a  tremendous  start  along 
the  road  of  friendship  and  love  that  one  day  will  lead 
into  the  City  of  God. 

Mrs.  Mumford  ^  calls  attention  to  the  effect  upon 
children  of  the  prayer  attitude  of  parents.  The  regular 
recurrence  of  the  evening  quiet  time  on  going  to  bed 
begins  to  make  its  impression  upon  the  baby  before  it 
can  understand  the  words  that  are  said.  With  the 
evening  hour  there  comes  to  be  associated  the  voice 
tones,  the  softened  manner,  the  family  hush  and  slowing 
down  that  are  essential  for  the  sober  reflection  of  wor- 
ship. This  should  not  be  a  sad  hour,  but  rather  one  of 
renewed  fellowship,  in  which  the  less  boisterous,  yet 
not  unplayful  activities,  such  as  story-telUng,  singing 
and  reminiscing,  are  the  expected  and  enjoyable  events. 
The  mood  that  accompanies  a  true  prayer  by  the  mother 
at  the  child's  bedside  will  find  expression  in  the  mother's 
subdued  voice  and  in  the  subtle  facial  expressions  to 
which  children  are  so  sensitive.  And  so  the  habit 
of  the  reverential  attitude  necessary  to  worship  will 
be  established  as  the  accustomed  attitude  of  bedtime, 

»  The  Dawn  of  Religion  in  the  Mind  of  the  Child. 


BABIES  21 

making  the  practise  of  evening  prayer,  as  the  child  grows 
old  enough  to  pray  by  himself,  a  natural  and  easy  thing. 
What  a  relief  in  contrast  with  the  all-too-frequent  bed- 
time complaints  and  outbursts  of  temper  on  the  part 
of  both  parents  and  children! 

The  morning,  too,  has  its  appropriate  mood  of  joyous 
anticipation  of  the  day's  experiences.  If  this  is  real  to 
the  parents,  it  cannot  help  affecting  the  children  —  and, 
unfortunately,  the  reverse  is  equally  true.  Many  a  good 
hour  is  saved  for  work  and  play  by  the  habit  of  alertness 
in  the  morning.  The  prayer  of  morning  is  a  prayer  of 
outreaching  faith,  and  carries  with  it  an  exuberant  and 
overflowing  eagerness  that  colors  the  whole  day's  work. 
There  is  no  room  in  such  a  mood  for  dawdling  and  fretting 
over  dressing,  which,  to  say  the  least,  is  distressing  to 
everybody,  and  therefore  an  unsocial  way  of  behaving. 
The  early  establishment  of  the  opposite  attitude  as  the 
morning  attitude  will  go  a  long  way  toward  preventing 
the  growth  of  the  characteristic  dilatoriness  of  childhood, 
and  will  make  it  easier  to  invest  the  difficult  art  of  dress- 
ing and  bodily  care  with  a  much  needed  interest. 

4.  Foundations  in  Common  Consciousness.  Ref- 
erences have  already  been  made  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  common  consciousness  natural  to  childhood,  out  of 
which  the  individual  consciousness  emerges,  and  with 
which  it  is  contrasted.  The  feeling  of  oneness  with  the 
group  is  one  which  comes  after  the  individual  has  begun 
to  become  conscious  of  his  selfhood.  The  appreciation 
of  union  is  therefore  simply  an  accompaniment  of  the 
appreciation  of  selfhood.  They  are  two  sides  of  a  shield, 
and  neither  is  possible  without  the  other. 

Both  may  be  distorted,  however.  The  child's  con- 
sciousness of  self  may  be  the  outgrowth  of  an  unsocial 


22  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

experience,  in  which  case  he  will  be  himself  unsocial. 
His  sense  of  self  will  be  developed  in  opposition  to  others 
rather  than  in  cooperation  with  others,  and  he  will 
become  a  misanthrope  or  recluse.  His  independence 
will  be  bravado  and  seK-glorification,  or  self-seeking, 
rather  than  deUberate  seK-effacement  in  the  larger 
interests  of  the  group  life. 

As  is  his  consciousness  of  persons  so  will  be  his  con- 
sciousness of  God.  God,  the  great  Father,  should  at 
first  be  absorbed  as  part  of  the  mental  furniture  which 
he  unquestioningly  takes  for  granted.  God  should  be 
a  part  of  the  common  consciousness,  a  member  of  the 
group.  And  when  the  transition  to  personal  conscious- 
ness takes  place,  God  should  be  individuaHzed  as  well 
as  father  and  mother,  and  in  the  same  general  way. 
That  is,  there  should  grow  up  a  rapport,  a  consciousness 
of  two  selves  who  are  yet  in  harmony  with  one  another, 
because  they  choose  to  be.  As  such  common  conscious- 
ness among  individuals  is  maintained  by  common  action, 
so  it  is  with  God.  Doing  as  God  does  or  as  God  wishes 
keeps  up  the  feeling  of  union.  Doing  as  God  does  not 
wish  breaks  the  feeling  of  harmony  and  makes  necessary 
a  readjustment.  If  God  is  associated  with  all  that  is 
best,  with  all  the  childish  aspirations  and  moral  successes, 
there  will  be  built  up  the  foundations  of  a  vital  rehgious 
fellowship  which  can  readily  grow  in  meaning  as  the 
child's  world  grows.  A  universe  that  is  at  bottom- 
personal  rather  than  capricious  is  a  universe  which  even 
a  child  can  feel  at  home  in ;  and  it  is  such  an  interpreta- 
tion of  the  meaning  of  life,  I  take  it,  which  Jesus 
believed  in  and  associated  with  the  calm  confidence  of 
childhood  in  the  goodness  of  everything. 


BABIES  23 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

Locate  several  children  under  five  years  of  age,  and,  if  possible- 
ranging  all  the  way  from  a  few  weeks  old,  and  make  plans  to  observe 
these  children  occasionally  when  they  are  awake.  Children  passing 
by  in  their  go-carts  or  playing  in  the  parks  or  streets  are  just  as  real 
and  just  as  interesting  as  when  they  are  at  home. 

1.  What  do  these  babies  seem  to  be  interested  in?  What  do  they 
do?  Don't  say  they  "  play."  Say  exactly  what  they  do  with  arms 
and  legs  and  voice. 

2.  What  do  they  take  pleasure  in?    What  causes  them  annoyance? 

3.  Describe  instances  of  apparent  self-control  or  self-direction, 
recording  the  exact  age,  and  the  circumstances.  Compare  Case  1, 
App.  I,  page  254. 

4.  Describe  the  social  enviroimient  of  the  children  you  are  observ- 
ing, from  the  point  of  view  of  the  children.  With  whom  do  they 
come  into  contact?  What  do  these  persons  do?  How  are  the  child's 
satisfactions  and  desires  dependent  on  them? 

5.  Read  the  cases  of  children  under  four  in  App.  I,  pp.  254—257. 
The  following  books  will  be  found  to  be  of  especial  service: 

Mrs.  E.  E.  R.  Mumford,  The  Dawn  of  Religign  in  the  Mind  oj  the 
Child. 
H.  "i*^.  Cope,  Religious  Education  in  the  Family. 


CHAPTER  III 
FIVE-YEAR-OLDS 

Achieving  Selfhood 

Cooperation  and  the  Discovery  of  Self.  What  the 
babies  learn  in  the  way  of  religious  behavior  they  learn 
from  their  elders  chiefly :  by  their  efforts  to  put  two  and 
two  together,  making  up  their  own  little  worlds  of 
thought  out  of  the  fragments  thrown  to  them  from  the 
great  unknown  world  of  grown-ups;  by  their  attempts 
to  please  father  and  mother,  and  do  what  wins  their 
approval;  by  their  gradual  discovery  of  the  possibility 
of  getting  what  they  want  by  making  use  of  people; 
and,  finally,  if  they  have  been  wisely  trained,  by  their 
additional  discovery  that  there  are  other  desires  besides 
theirs  that  are  seeking  satisfaction  and  that  they  are 
happiest  when  deferring  to  the  desire  of  the  home  group 
as  it  finds  expression  in  the  family  regime  or  in  parental 
control. 

By  the  time  a  child  goes  to  the  Beginners^  Class,  he 
should  be  trying  to  make  his  adjustments  to  the  group 
hfe.  He  should  have  at  least  occasional  lapses  into  a 
cooperative  frame  of  mind.  By  the  time  he  has  en-' 
tered  the  second  year  of  the  Beginners^  work,  that  is, 
when  he  has  passed  his  fifth  birthday  and  is  in  his  sixth 
year,  he  should  be  habitually  cooperative.  Otherwise, 
his  presence  with  the  other  five-year-olds  is  a  disturbing 
factor  and  destroys  the  unity  of  the  class.  Ordinarily, 
then,  the  four-  and  five-year-olds  should  not  be  in  the 

24 


FIVE-YEAR-OLDS  25 

same  class  in  church  school,  and  the  criterion  of  advance- 
ment should  be  primarily  the  actual  abiUty  to  take  an 
intelligent  part  in  the  activities  of  the  older  children. 

The  training  we  can  give  to  the  four-year-old  is  more 
of  the  type  that  he  gets  at  home.  It  is  a  continuation 
of  the  older  person's  effort  to  help  the  youngster  find 
himself  and  to  find  other  folks.  He  is  hovering  on  the 
threshold  of  true  self-consciousness, '  and  we  must  pa- 
tiently wait  for  him  to  enter,  of  his  own  accord,  the 
larger  world  of  real  persons,  before  we  confront  him  with 
the  more  serious  problems  of  conscious  social  adjustment. 

The  Enlargement  of  Experience.  Coincident  with 
this  stretching  of  the  child's  social  imagination  is  his 
entrance  into  a  larger  world.  Home  has  been  his  sphere, 
or  rather  his  home  base,  from  which  he  took  his  frequent 
departure  on  long  excursions  into  the  childish  world  of 
fancy.  But  now  come  school,  new  playmates  of  his 
own  age,  teacher,  the  sight  of  older  children  at  play. 
The  world  is  not  just  father  and  mother  and  brother  and 
sister  and  cousins.  It  is  these  plus,  oh,  so  many,  many 
children.  Try  to  recall  the  first  time  you  were  in  a  great 
crowd  such  as  gathers  in  a  college  stadium  or  a  circus. 
How  vivid  were  the  people  and  how  keen  was  your 
consciousness  of  the  presence  of  humanity  in  the  large. 
And  so  the  child  feels,  when  for  the  first  time  he  walks 
into  the  kindergarten  room  with  its  twenty  or  thirty 
children,  or  sees  the  older  children  marching  through  the 
halls  in  never-ending  lines  to  their  various  classrooms. 
No  wonder  the  youngsters  are  at  first  dismayed.  They 
didn't  know  there  were  so  many  people  in  all  the  world. 

At  once  upon  entrance  into  this  bigger  world  of 
children,  the  child's  former  world  of  toys  and  dolls  and 
blocks  and  whistles  and  convenient  father  and  mother 


CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

takes  on  new  meaning.  These  articles  of  the  soli- 
tary play  of  imagination  become  spiritually  marketable. 
They  become  the  materials  of  social  cooperation.  They 
are  also  the  interests  of  others  and  therefore  the  basis 
of  a  common  interest  through  which  the  dehghts  and  the 
difficulties  of  social  Hving  arise. 

The  Clash  of  Imaginary  Worlds  and  the  Discovery 
of  the  Real  World.  The  delights  and  difficulties  are 
both  real  and  both  essential  to  proper  development. 
Were  it  not  a  pleasure  to  play  with  others,  the  little 
conflicts  of  thought  and  feeling  which  spur  the  children 
to  clarify  their  thinking  would  not  occur.  They  would 
continue  to  play  alone.  And  when  the  imaginary  world 
of  one  is  little  by  Httle  brought  into  touch  with  the 
imaginary  world  of  the  others,  the  fancy-free  way  of 
thinking  receives  a  check,  and  the  children  are  all  forced 
back  upon  their  common  experience  with  a  common 
world  of  things  and '  people  as  the  final  arbiter  of  truth 
and  reality. 

The  Cosmopolitan.  The  child's  world  is  further 
enlarged  by  his  seeing  what  6ther  children  do.  Each 
one  of  these  kindergarten  children  has  been  brought 
up  in  a  home  whose  life  he  has  been  exclusively  sharing 
and  whose  way  of  doing  things  he  has  been  imitating. 
Now  these  different  children,  from  different  homes,  and 
representing  the  characteristics  of  the  different  homes, 
all  come  together,  and  therefore  bring  into  one  room  all 
their  various  interests  and  activities.  Instead  of  having 
simply  their  own  home  life  to  imitate,  the  children 
now  can  imitate  a  great  variety  of  behavior.  Johnnie 
plays  with  his  blocks  in  a  most  fascinating  way,  and 
Edward  must  do  it  just  as  Johnnie  does.  Likewise 
Edward's  particular  strut  and  puff  as  he  pulls  his  train 


.      FIVE-YEAR-OLDS  27 

of  cars  is  an  accomplishment  that  stirs  Johnnie's  ambi- 
tion. And  so  the  different  ways  of  doing  things  which 
the  different  children  bring  with  them  are  pooled  in  a 
common  stock  of  experience  and  the  whilom  provincial 
member  of  the  Tenny  family  becomes  a  cosmopoUtan, 
brushing  up  against  the  Olsons  and  Smiths,  the  Mac- 
Dougals  and  Murphys,  the  Hahns,  and  Trabues,  and  so 
minghng  not  only  the  family  traits  but  also  the  national 
habits  that  appear  in  the  plays  and  games  of  the  off- 
spring. 

Individual  Interests  and  Their  Submergence  in 
the  Group-Life.  But  the  pleasure  in  doing  what  the 
other  girl  or  the  other  boy  does  is  not  the  only  enjoy- 
ment of  the  five-year-old.  He  also  wants  to  l^ave  his 
own  way  and  to  display  his  own  talents.  That  is  why 
he  has  something  to  be  imitated.  He  does  it  his  way 
first  and  shows  the  rest  how.  He  wants  his  chance.  His 
story  must  get  a  hearing.  This  is  a  wholesome  thing, 
provided  it  does  not  mean  simply  the  display  of  conceit. 
What  we  desire  is  that  each  child  shall  make  his  contribu- 
tion to  the  group  life,  and  that  his  contribution  shall  be 
his  own. 

The  transition  from  display  to  cooperation  is  well 
illustrated  by  the  responses  of  the  different  children  to 
the  teacher's  request  for  illustrations  of  the  subject  of 
the  story.  One  child  gives  an  apt  illustration  from  his 
own  experience.  Another  cannot  think  of  any,  and  so, 
apparently  in  a  cooperative  spirit,  begins  to  tell  a  story 
of  her  own  that  has  no  particular  relation  to  the  subject 
under  discussion.  A  third  is  insistent  on  reciting  a 
poem  entirely  irrelevant  to  the  theme  in  hand  and  with 
the  obvious  desire  to  show  off.  How  to  help  the  second 
child  to  make  her  contribution  intelUgent,  and  how  to 


28  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

secure  the  cooperation  of  the  third,  are  real  problems  in 
kindergarten  teaching. 
Natural   Tendencies   and   Characteristics.    The 

''  animal  "  life  of  the  immature  human  has  analogies 
with  the  immature  life  of  other  species.  There  is  the 
same  delight  in  multiform  activity.  The  essential  wrig-^ 
gle  of  the  confined  child  is  not  a  sign  of  degeneracy  but 
of  health.  It  is  normal  for  a  child  of  five  to  be  active 
with  his  whole  body.  The  finer  control  of  energy,  by 
which  the  larger  muscles  are  allowed  to  rest  while  a  small 
group  of  closely  coordinated  muscles  —  hand  and  eye  — 
are  kept  in  continuous  operation,  has  not  been  attained. 
To  draw  a  picture,  therefore,  requires  the  motion  or 
tension  of  legs  and  trunk  and  mouth  and  tongue  as  well 
as  of  arm  and  hand  and  eye. 

But  not  only  is  action  imperative;  it  is  also  impulsive. 
There  are  few  pauses  for  reflection  upon  consequences. 
One  act  leads  directly  to  another  with  little  intervening 
thought.  This  does  not  mean  the  absence  of  imagery. 
It  means  that  the  mental  life  is  like  the  observed  physi- 
cal activity  —  a  series  of  rather  disconnected  and  play- 
ful images  accompanying  a  series  of  rather  disconnected 
and  playful  acts.  As  activity  is  playing  with  things,  so 
thought  is  playing  with  images  of  play.  It  is  not  so 
much  the  object  or  scene  that  is  imaged  as  the  action. 

The  story  of  the  Little  Blind  Girl  ^  was  once  told  to 
a  group  of  children  including  some  six  years  old.  The 
climax  of  the  story,  from  the  adult  point  of  view,  is 
where,  for  the  first  time,  the  child  sees  her  mother's  face. 
Yet  not  one  of  the  younger  children  afterwards  expressed 
any  interest  in  this  dramatic  ending.  It  is  not  the 
mother's  face  but  her  action  that  interests  most  children. 

^  Lane,  First  Book  of  Religion. 


FIVE-YEAR-OLDS  29 

The  famous  Ketchup  Story  ^  well  illustrates  this 
playing  with  images: 

Once  there  was  a  man  who  ate  ketchup.  He  ate  ketchup  on  his 
bread  and  on  his  meat  and  on  everything.  He  ate  too  much  ketchup. 
His  friends  all  said,  "  If  you  eat  so  much  ketchup,  you  will  be  sick." 
But  he  kept  right  on  eating  ketchup. 

And  then,  one  day,  his  arm  fell  o£f.  But  he  kept  right  on  eating 
ketchup.  He  ate  ketchup  on  bread  and  on  meat  and  on  every- 
thing. He  ate  too  much  ketchup.  And  his  friends  all  said,  "  If 
you  eat  so  much  ketchup,  you  will  be  sick."  But  he  kept  right  on 
eating  ketchup. 

And  then,  one  day,  his  leg  fell  off.  But  he  kept  right  on  eating 
ketchup.  He  ate  it  on  bread  and  on  meat  and  on  everything.  He 
ate  too  much  ketchup.  And  his  friends  all  said,  "  If  you  eat  so 
much  ketchup,  you  will  be  sick."  But  he  kept  right  on  eating 
ketchup. 

And  then,  one  day,  his  head  fell  off.  And  then  he  was  scared. 
And  he  ran  straight  to  the  doctor.  And  the  doctor  looked  him  in 
the  eye  and  said,  "  Young  man,  if  you  don't  stop  eating  ketchup, 
something's  going  to  happen  to  you  !  " 

The  Interest  in  Activities  and  Purposes.  Kirk- 
patrick^  quotes  the  definitions  which  a  four-year-old 
child  gave  of  common  objects: 

Ankle  —  means  to  walk  with. 

Apple  —  means  to  eat  —  just  to  eat. 

Baby  —  it  means  babies  that  creep  just  like  this. 

Ball     —  it  means  balls  for  playing  tennis  or  anything. 

Book  —  A  book  you  read.     You're  reading  a  book. 

Boy    —  Oh,  boys  —  They're  boys  that  walk  of  course.    The  boys 

go  in  the  house  and  play  and  walk  around. 
Chair  —  A  chair  means  to  sit  in. 
Girl     —  Why,  girl  means  to  go  to  school. 
Hat    —  To  wear  on  your  head. 
Papa  —  To  take  care  of  you. 

1  The  author  does  not  know  the  source  of  this  story  and  tells  it  from  a  single 
hearing  of  some  years'  standing.     If  it  does  violence  to  the  original,  he  begs  pardon. 
*  Kirkpatrick,  The  Indiv  \dual  in  the  Making,  p.  163. 


30  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

More  and  more  the  imagination  of  children  is  taking 
in  the  future  as  well  as  the  present.  There  is  a  growing 
sense  of  continuity  and  custom,  and  a  growing  interest 
in  standardizing  modes  of  behavior.  The  function  of 
objects,  more  than  their  appearance,  arouses  their 
curiosity.  This  is  a  matter  of  no  small  importance  to 
reUgious  education.  It  offers  a  problem  as  well  as  an 
opportunity,  however,  for  once  the  function  of  an  ob^ct 
or  mode  of  behavior  is  grasped,  any  change  or  enlarge- 
ment of  the  idea  of  what  the  object  or  act  is  for  is 
difficult.  The  vividness  of  imagery  apparently  rejects 
changes  automatically.  Any  stimulus,  such  as  a  story, 
which  has  once  set  going  a  set  of  images,  must  be  told 
again  in  exactly  the  same  way.  The  change  of  a  word 
is  resented,  for  it  probably  interferes  with  the  imagery 
already  fixed. 

Similarly,  if  a  particular  act  has  ever  secured  a  pleas- 
ing result,  the  act  will  be  carefully  repeated  when  the 
same  result  is  again  desired,  although  there  may  be  no 
logical  connection  between  them.  And  if  the  expected 
result  does  not  occur,  violence  is  done  to  the  child's 
notion  of  a  stable  world. 

A  small  boy  was  asked  one  day  to  say  grace  at  table. 
It  happened  that  his  uncle,  of  whom  he  was  very  fond, 
was  sick.  So  he  said  for  grace, ''  God  bless  Uncle  George 
and  make  him  well."  That  was  a  quite  satisfactory 
way  to  meet  this  situation  of  having  to  say  grace.  And 
so,  thereafter  for  some  time,  long  after  Uncle  George 
was  quite  well,  the  boy's  grace  at  table  was,  ^'  God  bless 
Uncle  George  and  make  him  well." 

The  advantage  that  the  interest  in  activity  and  in 
standard  activity  or  fixed  forms  gives  us  is  of  several ' 
kinds.     In  the  first  place,  it  is  relatively  easy  to  form  - 


FIVE-YEAR-OLDS  31 

habits  of  conduct.    Behavior,  as  such,  is  prominent  in 
the  child^s  mind,  and  correct  behavior,  that  is,  customary 
behavior,  is  all-important.    The  child  wants  to  do  the 
right  thing  and  insists  that  others  shall  also.     How  many 
youngsters  are  shocked  by  the  table  manners  of  their 
fathers!    But  only  when  they  have  been  taught  some 
other  way  of  holding  fork  or  spoon.     It  is  exceedingly 
important  that  the  habits  which  are  formed  are  correct,  \ 
therefore,  not  only  in  the  child's  eyes,  but  in  the  eyes  \ 
of  the  "  best  people.*'    The  standards  of  behavior  for  I- 
the  child  must  be  Christian  standards  from  the  very  / 
beginning. 

In  the  second  place,  the  interest  in  activity  is,  in^ 
germ,  an  interest  in  purposes.    To  be  sure,  the  five-year- 
old  does  not  form  very  extensive  purposes.    But  he  wants 
to  know  what  things  are  for^  what   their  behavior  is,^ 
what  they  are  used  for  by  people.    And  he  wants  to 
know  why  he  has  to  do  some  things  and  not  others.  -" 
Here  is  one  opportunity  to  help  the  child  make  the 
beginning  of  a  religious  interpretation  of  his  life  and  of 
the  world.     He  is  systematizing  his  thinking  already. 
What  kinds  of  purposes  is  he  himself  forming,  and  what 
kinds  of  purposes  does  he  find  others  forming?    From 
the  Christian  point  of  view,  what  are  things  for,  and  what 
is  the  reason  for  our  behavior? 

The  Parental  Instinct.  Besides  the  original  ten- 
dency to  activity  of  various  kinds  with  its  mental  asso- 
ciates which  we  have  been  describing,  there  are  other 
instinctive  tendencies  that  provide  fairly  definite  forms 
of  behavior.  The  most  significant  just  now  is  the  pa- 
rental instinct,  with  its  nursing  activities.  The  child 
fondles  and  pets  everything,  including  father  and  mother. 
This  is  largely  automatic,  and  the  mental  reflections  of 


32  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

this  sort  of  activity  gain  definiteness  only  with  an  ex- 
tended experience  of  the  results  of  this  indiscriminate 
mothering. 

^  It  is  quite  important,  therefore,  for  the  proper  develop- 
ment of  Christian  habits  of  conduct  and  thought,  that 
the  parental  instinct  be  given  direction.  The  tender- 
ness of  feeling  that  apparently  accompanies  mothering 
activity  must  not  be  allowed  to  become  sentimental 
or  mushy.  The  desire  to  help  must  be  made  intelligent 
in  its  operation.  The  children  must  be  taught  to  find 
satisfaction  in  activities  that  really  help.  That  is,  the 
relatively  automatic  acts  of  superficial  helpfulness  must 
gradually  become  purposeful.  Delightful  as  is  the  spon- 
taneous and  impulsive  caress,  we  must  not  confuse 
it  with  true  thoughtfulness,  which  has  a  conscious  aim, 
namely,  the  interest  of  the  other  person.  By  emphasis 
on  thoughtfulness  for  others,  by  encouraging  the  gener- 
ous impulse  to  work  its  way  through  a  consideration  of 
various  possible  generous  acts  to  the  selection  of  the 
act  that  best  meets  the  other  person's  interest,  we  can 
gradually  transform  the  blind  impulse  into  a  controlling 
purpose,  which  is  Christian  in  its  essence. 

A  certain  wise  teacher  of  Beginners  is  accustomed 
to  ask  each  pupil  why  he  brings  a  penny  with  him. 
This  is  a  puzzler  for  most  children.  If  they  have  any 
idea  at  all,  beyond  the  fact  that  mother  said  it  was  the 
proper  thing  to  do,  it  is  usually  a  general  notion 
of  miscellaneous  and  undirected  helpfulness.  But  the 
pennies  accumulate,  and  the  question  arises  as  to  what 
to  do  with  them.  The  teacher  is  not  contented  with  im- 
pulsive answers,  such  as  '^  give  them  to  the  poor  chil- 
dren." She  desires  an  intelligent  grappling  with  the 
problem  of  giving.     So  as  various  definite  objects  of 


FIVE-YEAR-OLDS  33 

expenditure  are  suggested,  she  encourages  an  estimate 
of  need,  and  tries  to  secure  a  judgment  as  to  the  relative 
needs  of  the  different  objects,  and  a  real  endeavor  to 
find  out  how  the  money  will  cause  the  most  happiness 
or  do  the  most  good.  The  blind  generosity  of  the  chil- 
dren is  being  transformed  gradually  into  a  wise  Chris- 
tian purpose.  One  of  the  objects  which  is  of  particularly 
vital  interest  to  this  class  of  Beginners  is  the  purchasing 
of  milk  for  some  babies  in  a  near-by  day  nursery.  The 
children  understand  the  babies'  need  of  milk  and  can 
be  shown  how  important  it  is  that  they  have  good  milk. 
Their  parental  tendency  to  care  for  these  Uttle  ones  finds 
a  wise  as  well  as  a  satisfying  outlet  in  spending  their 
savings  in  this  way. 

Children's  Fears.  A  great  deal  has  been  said  about 
children's  fears,  and  of  their  place  in  ''  primitive  "  child- 
hood reUgion.  Undoubtedly  fear  was  a  component  of 
primitive  man's  religious  experience.  But  we  are  no 
longer  primitive,  and  the  things  that  made  him  afraid 
are  not  the  bug-a-boos  of  civilized  man.  One  achieve- 
ment of  the  Christian  religion  has  been  to  eUminate 
fear  from  the  heart  of  man.  Why  should  the  child  be 
dragged  through  the  experiences  of  the  savage,  when, 
as  we  know,  the  child's  native  tendencies  to  confidence 
and  love  are  precisely  the  central  attitudes  of  Chris- 
tianity? 

That  children  have  fears  is  true,  though  frequently 
these  can  be  traced  to  the  vicious  stories  of  nurse-maids, 
or  even  to  foolish  mothers,  who  try  to  scare  their  chil- 
dren into  good  behavior.  Better  were  it  that  a  millstone 
were  hung  about  their  necks  and  that  they  were  cast  into 
the  midst  of  the  sea.  A  child  once  possessed  by  fear  is 
in  some  degree  always  abnormal.    The  very  structure  of 


34  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

his  brain  builds  itself  around  the  acts  and  fancies  that 
grow  out  of  a  dominating  terror,  and  forever  after  those 
connections  or  habits  of  act  and  thought  survive  to 
destroy  his  peace  and  efficiency  of  mind. 
-  Our  work  as  teachers  of  religion  is  to  prevent  any  such 
fears  arising  and  to  disperse  them  as  rapidly  as  possible 
by  corrective  teaching  if  they  have  already  taken  pos- 
session of  the  child.  That  religious  (Christian)  teaching 
is  a  powerful  antidote  to  such  conditions  is  well  estab- 
lished. 

A  pleasing  result  of  teaching  a  child  about  the  Father^s 
care  is  seen  in  the  following  quotation  from  a  mother's 
account  of  her  efforts  to  train  her  daughter  in  the  use  of 
prayer:  "  She  is  a  very  timid  child  and  has  been  afraid 
of  imaginary  things  after  she  was  in  bed.  This  fall  I 
have  taught  her  to  ask  the  Father  to  take  care  of  her. 
She  has  done  so  and  the  fear  has  practically  vanished. *' 
(Age,  six  years.) 

The  Desire  for  Approval.  One  other  strong  ten- 
dency of  childhood  remains  for  our  attention.  It  is  the 
great  satisfaction  children  of  this  age  take  in  the  approval 
of  their  superiors  —  parents,  teachers,  and  older  chil- 
dren —  and  the  pain  caused  by  the  disapproval  of  these 
same  associates.  Here  is  a  powerful  weapon  for  good 
or  ill.  Out  of  it  grows  that  desire  for  the  approval  of 
one's  own  best  self,  for  the  approval  of  the  best  selves  in 
others,  for  the  approval  of  God  as  he  makes  his  will 
known  through  conscience  and  the  demands  of  the  ideal 
society.  It  is  a  dangerous  weapon,  however,  for  it  may 
lead  to  the  desire  for  popular  approval,  for  the  acclaim 
of  the  crowd,  or  for  the  insidious  flattery  of  those  whom 
we  contemn.  It  may  rest  satisfied  with  what  the  lower 
self  dictates,  or  it  may  be  constantly  vacillating  between 


FIVE-YEAR-OLDS  35 

one  master  and  another,  seeking  now  one  approbation 
and  now  another.  A  unified  source  of  approval  is 
essential  for  a  unified  personality,  and  this  should  be, 
of  course,  what  we  mean  by  the  approval  of  God.  Some 
such  unifying  will  as  is  formulated  in  the  idea  of  God,  and 
some  such  unifying  experience  as  is  typified  in  the  experi- 
ence of  fellowship  with  an  over-will,  are  essential  for 
the  achievement  of  that  unity  of  soul  which  it  is  the  func- 
tion of  rehgion  to  secure. 

The  Experience  of  God.  The  beginnings  of  the 
God-consciousness  as  they  are  taught  by  parents  have 
already  been  discussed.  The  children  in  the  Beginners' 
Department  are  not  strictly  beginners.  They  began 
their  reHgious  life  before  they  came  to  the  church  school, 
and  they  bring  with  them  also  some  idea  of  God.  What 
should  be  the  normal  idea  of  God  by  the  time  the  child 
is  ready  to  enter  the  first  grade?  What  sort  of  an  ex- 
perience of  God  will  promote  this  rehgious  development? 

For  we  must  not  suppose  that  all  ideas  of  God  or  God- 
experiences  are  helpful.  Some  may  actually  be  irrelig- 
ious, as  this  instance  suggests: 

"  A  little  girl  of  five  years,  during  that  period  of  the  child's  life 
when  it  exhibits  more  or  less  the  tendency  to  run  away  from  home, 
became  quite  a  runaway  and  visitor  to  other  homes  in  the  com- 
munity, going  at  any  hour  of  the  day. 

"  This  habit  came  to  be  a  matter  of  great  anxiety  to  her  parents 
and  a  nuisance  to  neighbors  and  friends.  The  parents  tried  various 
methods  to  overcome  the  habit.  They  admonished  her  but  it  did 
no  good.  Then  they  tried  keeping  her  indoors  but  this  did  not 
avail  for,  after  her  periods  of  confinement  to  the  house,  sooner  or 
later  she  would  be  off  from  home.  As  a  last  resort,  her  father  in- 
structed the  people  in  the  community  to  ask  Mary,  his  daughter, 
if  she  had  the  consent  of  her  parents  to  go  out  a-visiting.  If  she 
replied  that  she  had  not,  she  should  be  refused  admission  and  sent 
home. 


36  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

"  Shortly  after  the  above  arrangements  had  been  made  by  my 
friend  with  his  neighbors,  Miss  Mary  set  out  to  go  a-caUing  on 

a  Mrs.  J .    When  Mrs.  J ,  on  answering  the  raps  at  her  door, 

found  that  it  was  Mary  she  immediately  inquired  if  she  had  gotten 
her  father's  permission  to  come.    On  receiving  the  negative  answer, 

Mrs.  J asked  if  she  had  then  obtained  her  mother's  consent. 

Upon  learning  that  this  consent  neither  had  been  obtained,  she 
asked  her  Uttle  caller  as  to  what  she  was  doing  there  when  she 
hadn't  obtained  permission  from  father  or  mother.  '  Oh,'  repUed 
Mary,  '  I  do  have  permission.  I  asked  God  before  I  came  and  he 
said  I  could.' 

"  The  child  had  been  taught  by  the  father  to  be  reUgious,  that 
is,  in  so  far  as  he  felt  the  child  mind  could  grasp  it,  and  particu- 
larly did  he  point  her  to  God  as  the  one  whom  we  should  all  love  and 
obey;  and  if  we  did,  he  would  be  our  helper,  and  to  him  we  could  take 
all  our  troubles  and  difficulties  and  he  would  help  us  through  them. 

"  She  couldn't  resist  that  strong  tendency  to  run  off,  but  as  she 
must  not  go  now  without  permission,  she  determined  to  go  out  on 
the  campus  in  a  comer  and  talk  to  God  about  getting  the  privilege 

to  go  a-visiting  to  Mrs.  J .     She  claimed  that  she  did  explain 

it  all  and  seemingly  to  her  childish  mind  came  the  right,  the  privilege, 
to  go,  and  on  the  strength  of  her  conviction  she  went. 

"  She  had  been  taught  that  there  was  a  value  in  prayer  —  that  if 
she  prayed  and  had  faith,  God  would  answer  her  prayer."^ 

-Here  is  a  child  of  five,  who  made  use  of  God  for 
unworthy  purposes.  Her  God  was  distinctly  inferior  to 
her  best  self,  though  she  regarded  him  as  the  final 
authority. 

There  was  evidently  an  error  in  this  child's  teaching. 
An  unethical  mystical  experience  was  taught  as  superior 
to  her  own  moral  judgment.  This  child  should  be  taught 
to  associate  God  with  her  own  best  self,  not  her  worst 
self,  and  through  the  wise  regulations  of  her  family  life 
she  should  have  found  ample  experience  of  God's  good- 
ness and  wisdom.    Inasmuch  as  she  was  ethically,  even 

»  See  also  Cases  12  and  19,  App.  I,  pp.  25S  and  262. 


FIVE-YEAR-OLDS  37 

though  not  physically,  superior  to  her  God,  her  God  was 
not  a  part  of  her  real  religious  life.  This  is  the  sort  of 
God  that  will  soon  be  cast  aside  as  superstition,  unless 
this  girl's  vital  experience  can  be  transformed  so  as  to 
promote  her  own  religious  growth. 

On  the  other  hand,  many  a  child  gets  the  idea  that 
God  is  a  great  master-mechanic,  doing  astonishing  tricks 
with  stones  and  earth.  The  child  can  understand  some- 
thing of  the  achievements  of  such  a  God,  because  he  has 
tried  to  make  mud  pies.  But  if  we  expect  to  get  a 
reverential  attitude  toward  God  (and  apart  from  the 
attitude  of  reverence,  the  idea  of  God  is  not  religious), 
we  shall  be  disappointed.  A  small  boy  of  three  and  a 
half  who  had  been  taught  that  God  makes  the  wind  blow 
was  exceedingly  annoyed  at  God  for  blowing  his  hair 
into  his  eyes.  What  more  natural?  But  this  is  not  the 
basis  of  reverence.  Indeed,  a  more  natural  idea  of  God 
was  possessed  by  the  boy  who,  in  trying  to  estimate 
God's  abiUty,  said,  *'  Why,  he's  so  big  he  could  spit  from 
here  to  the  barn.''  The  God  of  nature,  of  stars  and 
infinite  spaces,  is  an  adolescent's  God.  He  depends  for  - 
his  supremacy  upon  a  breadth  and  depth  of  imagina- 
tion quite  out  of  the  five-year-old's  range. 

No.  It  is  not  God  the  Santa  Glaus,  nor  God  the 
magician  that  supplies  the  religious  needs  of  Beginners 
in  religion.  It  is  God  the  Father.  Let  us  take  our  cue 
from  the  child's  own  interest  in  functions,  in  actions  and 
purposes,  in  behavior.  Let  us  interpret  God  to  him* 
through  the  behavior,  not  of  things,  but  of  people,  and 
teach  him  to  look  for  God  in  what  men  and  women  do 
when  they  are  at  their  best. 

The  unseen  companions  of  childhood  are  well  known — 
not  simply  fairies  with  Santa  Glaus  as  the  biggest  fairy 


38  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

of  all;  but  ordinary  little  sisters  and  brothers  with  whom 
the  imaginative  child  carries  on  what  seems  to  be  a 
vital  fellowship.  The  notion  of  God  as  an  unseen  com- 
panion is  not  a  difficult  one  for  childhood.  But  what 
should  distinguish  God,  the  great  Companion,  from  these 
other  inhabitants  of  his  world?  First,  of  course,  he  is 
distinguished  by  his  purpose,  which  is  not  to  bring  nice 
presents  to  good  children  nor  to  keep  it  from  raining  on 
the  Fourth  of  July.  His  purpose  must  be  interpreted 
in  appropriate  terms  at  each  step  in  the  child's  progress, 
as  the  establishment  of  the  Family  or  Commonwealth 
of  God.  Jesus  was  insistent  in  emphasizing  God's 
purpose  for  the  present  and  the  future  in  terms  of  a 
reorganized  society,  and  a  new  kind  of  person,  who  comes 
Jnto  being  because  of  his  relation  to  this  new  society. 
So  the  child's  God  must  be  a  God  of  love  and  justice, 
and  every  advance  in  the  child's  moral  consciousness 
must  definitely  be  capitalized  in  his  idea  of  God.  His 
God  must  grow  in  moral  purpose  as  he  does,  else  he  will 
be  cast  aside  or  cease  to  be  an  instrument  of  religion. 
'  In  the  second  place,  the  child's  God  is  distinguished 
from  his  other  unseen  associates  by  the  fact  that  he  be- 
longs to  the  fellowship  which  he  does  see.  Father  and 
mother  and  teacher,  brothers  and  sisters  and  class- 
mates, old  and  young  ahke,  all  acknowledge  this  fellow- 
ship of  God  and  frequently  speak  with  him.  Only  by 
this  consciousness  of  social  fellowship  can  the  idea  of 
God  maintain  itself  in  the  child's  growing  experience  of 
the  world,  and  only  so  can  his  idea  of  God  grow  with  his 
growing  social  experience. 

Prayer.  This  leads  us  to  the  problem  of  prayer  as  a 
means  of  rehgious  development.  Up  to  this  time  the 
child's  prayers  have  been  largely  his  mother's.    He  is 


FIVE-YEAR-OLDS  39 

trying  to  participate  himself,  especially  in  the  family 
prayers,  if  he  is  so  fortunate  as  to  find  them  in  his  home. 
He  has  listened  as  his  mother  spoke  with  God  at  his 
bedside,  and  he  has  occasionally  ventured  to  add  a  word 
of  his  own.  But  the  need  is  growing  for  a  more  definite 
and  complete  fellowship,  such  as  can  come  only  through 
greater  effort. 

The  major  part  of  the  training  in  prayer  belongs 
properly  to  the  parents.  Unfortunately  this  work  will 
be  left  undone  in  most  instances.  Much  will  depend, 
therefore,  on  the  way  the  church-school  teacher  handles 
this  problem.^ 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  methods  involved. 
The  principle,  however,  is  clear,  and  is  well  illustrated 
by  the  following  incident: 

Unsatisfied  with  the  classic  "  Now  I  lay  me,"  a  mother  sought  a 
more  natural  prayer  for  her  six-year-old  son.  The  best  she  could 
think  of  was  a  modification  which  read  as  follows: 

Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep 
I  pray  the  Lord  me  safe  to  keep, 
And  when  the  morning  comes  again, 
Please  help  me  to  be  good.    Amen. 

The  first  time  he  used  this  prayer  happened  to  be  after  an  occa- 
sion of  recognized  moral  delinquency.  A  small  cousin  wanted  to 
play  with  the  boy's  Hallowe'en  cap,  but  was  refused  permission  on 
purely  selfish  grounds.  After  saying  this  prayer,  the  boy  jumped 
out  of  bed,  ran  and  got  the  cap  and  took  it  to  his  cousin,  saying, 
"  This  is  the  way  to  be  good." 

Defective  as  this  prayer  is  in  some  respects,  it  at  least 
was  answered  on  the  spot  in  a  way  quite  within  the 
comprehension  of  a  child. 

Many  children  so  love  the  repetition  of  the  same  words 

» Teachers  of  Beginners  would  do  well  to  consult  Mary  E.  Rankin's  A  Courat 
for  Beginners  in  Relioioua  Education,  on  this  problem. 


40  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

that  the  thought-content  is  crowded  out  and  the  repeti- 
tion becomes  a  mere  incantation.  This  mere  chanting 
of  words  has  httle  if  any  value  for  the  child  beyond  the 
momentary  pleasure  he  has  in  saying  the  familiar  form. 
The  habit  of  saying  the  same  form  over  and  over  again 
without  thought  as  to  its  meaning  may  become  so  firmly 
fixed  that  the  child  may  not  dare  to  go  to  sleep  without 
this  ritual.  This  is  of  course  mere  superstition  and  is 
the  farthest  removed  from  Christian  prayer.  Many 
boys  and  girls  on  arriving  at  years  of  independence  have 
suddenly  waked  up  to  the  fact  that  they  were  saying  a 
child's  prayer  every  night  which  meant  nothing  to  them, 
and,  not  knowing  any  more  adequate  ways  of  praying, 
have  given  up  the  practise  altogether. 

Even  the  child  who  found  so  much  help  in  the  prayer 
quoted  above  soon  got  to  using  it  mechanically.  Its 
rhythmical  form  helped  in  this  devitaUzing  process. 

A  prose  form,  with  more  intimate  touch  with  the 
child's  life,  would  help  solve  the  problem.  Here  is  one 
suggested  by  Professor  Coe: 

"  Jesus,  when  he  was  a  boy  like  me,  obeyed  his  parents;  when 
he  grew  up  he  went  about  helpmg  people,  and  was  forgiving  towards 
those  who  did  him  wrong.  Help  me,  our  Father,  to  be  like  him,  and 
especially  to  be  helpful  to  father  and  mother,  to  be  truthful,  and  to 
be  kind  even  to  those  who  are  imkind  to  me.    Amen." 

Opportunity  for  the  insertion  of  special  reasons  for 
gratitude,  or  special  events  of  the  day  for  which  the  need 
of  forgiveness  is  felt,  or  special  interests  and  aspirations, 
or  petitions,  is  desirable.  The  best  guide  to  the  en- 
couragement of  such  intimate  and  personal  relations 
with  the  Father  is  found  in  the  mother's  own  prayer  or 
in  the  family  prayers,  where  the  grown-ups  themselves 
humbly  confess  their  own  shortcomings  and  their  desire 


FIVE-YEAR-OLDS  41 

for  a  closer  approximation  to  the  ideal  of  life  for  them- 
selves and  for  every  one. 

Children  must  begin  to  organize  their  hves  about  an 
ideal  which  has  as  its  sanction  fellowship  with  an  ideal 
companion.  The  keenest  punishment  for  a  normal  child 
is  the  loss  of  desired  companionship.  He  is  quickly- 
affected  by  any  changes  in  the  temperature  of  the 
spiritual  atmosphere.  He  can  be  helped  to  be  sensitive 
also  to  the  attitude  of  the  divine  Father  whose  will  is 
made  known  through  his  own  higher  desires,  and  through 
the  higher  selves  of  others. 

The  Child's  Jesus.  Teachers  will  ask,  "  What  place 
has  Jesus  in  the  religion  of  a  Beginner?  "  Obviously, 
any  attempt  to  indoctrinate  the  youngsters  with  a 
philosophical  formulation  of  the  place  of  Christ  in  sys- 
tematic theology  is  sublimely  ridiculous.  Fortunately 
it  usually  does  httle  harm.  But  it  may  do  harm  by  con- 
fusing the  child's  notion  of  God.  "  God  is  hke  Jesus," 
is  a  legitimate  approach.  But  we  find  that  Jesus' 
Godlike  qualities  can  be  understood  by  the  child  only 
through  the  medium  of  the  child's  own  experience  of 
these  qualities  in  his  own  immediate  associates.  It  is 
at  best  a  secondary  experience  of  God  that  the  child  gets 
if  he  must  wait  until  he  understands  Jesus  before  he 
understands  God.  The  simpUcity  of  the  gospel  makes 
its  direct  appeal  in  present  human  life. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Beginners  are  beginners.  They 
have  a  long  future  before  them  in  which  Jesus  will  take 
a  more  and  more  prominent  place.  Such  stories  about 
him  as  will  win  their  interest  and  affection  are,  therefore, 
wholesome  even  at  this  early  stage.  The  baby  Jesus 
they  love.  It  is  with  the  baby  Jesus  they  should  begin. 
But  let  us  not  introduce  hopeless  confusion  into  their 


42  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

little  minds  by  trying  to  get  them  to  identify  the  baby 
Jesus  with  God,  save  as  all  babies  are  a  manifestation  of 
God  in  the  love  that  they  call  forth.  No  wonder  people 
are  worried  by  doubts  and  difficulties  when  they  are 
taught  as  children  to  pray  to  the  baby  Jesus  for  the 
gifts  of  fatherhood! 

The  acknowledgment  of  the  leadership  of  the  man 
Jesus,  Master  of  life,  will  come  later,  when  the  appeal  of 
his  wonderful  personality  will  enhst  the  enthusiastic 
devotion  of  the  hero-worshiper.  It  is  sufficient  for  the 
present  that  the  boy  Jesus  should  himself  exhibit  to  the 
child  all  that  is  desirable  in  childhood,  and  that  his  love 
for  children,  when  he  grew  up,  should  be  a  famiUar  story. 
For  so  will  the  childish  ideals  gradually  cluster  around 
him,  and  the  childish  heart  respond  to  the  call  of  his 
affection. 

Summary  of  the  Needs  of  Five- Year-Olds.  Let 
us  finally  sum  up  the  needs  of  youngsters  of  five  which 
challenge  the  teacher  of  reUgion,  and  endeavor  to  formu- 
late the  aim  and  method  of  our  work  with  them. 

We  must  not  forget  the  limitations  in  experience  and  physical 
equipment  which  determin.e  the  range  of  their  activities.  They 
can  neither  read  nor  write,  but  they  can  draw  and  sing  and  make 
things.  They  require  activity,  both  physical  and  mental,  for  they 
cannot  long  remain  still  nor  can  they  learn  without  doing  things 
themselves.  But  their  action  must  be  directed  so  as  to  form  habits 
of  conduct  which  bear  the  Christian  stamp.  They  do  not  respond 
readily  to  ideas  of  conduct,  however.  They  need  actual  situations 
as  stimuli  to  conduct,  rather  than  aphorisms  and  proverbs  and  ser- 
mons. In  forming  notions  of  correct  behavior,  they  need  standard 
images  of  behavior  in  the  form  of  stories  and  incidents  embodying 
the  desired  behavior  in  recognizable  form.  But  better  than  stories, 
even,  is  the  conduct  of  teachers  and  pupils  and  parents,  offering 
objects  for  imitation.  As  an  offset  to  self-seeking  tendencies  and 
as  a  basis  of  Christian  morality,  they  need  the  cultivation  and  ra- 


FIVE-YEAR-OLDS  43 

tionalizing  of  the  parental  instinct.  They  need  habits  of  feeling  as 
well  as  of  conduct,  —  the  cultivation  of  Christian  attitudes  in  the 
relations  of  home  and  school.  They  need,  finally,  a  definite  social 
interpretation  of  self  and  of  the  world,  reaching  as  early  as  possible 
a  notion  of  self  as  one  of  God's  children,  and  a  notion  of  the  worid 
as  a  friendly  place  to  hve  in,  and  a  place  in  which  people  are  trying 
to  do  what  God,  the  All-Father,  desires. 

The  Purpose  of  Religious  Education  for  Five- 
Year-Olds.  To  formulate  our  purpose  briefly,  then,  it 
is  this : 

1.  To  develop  a  Christian  type  of  social  response  in  action  and 
attitude,  within  the  child's  limited  environment,  both  real  and 
imaginary. 

2.  To  assist  him  to  a  social  interpretation  of  his  environment  which  ^ 
shall  include  God  as  the  great  Father  of  all. 

3.  To  assist  the  growing  consciousness  of  self  to  come  to  a  head  in  ^ 
a  self-consciousness  which  includes  a  recognition  of  the  reality  and 
the  claims  of  other  selves,  as  also  children  of  God. 

The    Essentials    of    Method    Formulated.     The 

essentials  of  our  method  can  be  formulated  thus: 

1.  There  must  be  a  cooperative  group-life  in  the  class  in  which- 
all  participate  as  best  they  can.  The  children  must  find  some 
common  enterprises,  which  carry  out  in  one  way  or  another  some 
truly  Christian  motive.  The  best  condition  is  attained  when  this 
enterprise  is  itself  definite  cooperation  with  others  outside  the  class, 
whether  in-the  rest  of  the  school  or  with  some  neighboring  family 
or  with  neglected  or  over-favored  children  or  with  children  of  dis- 
tant lands  who  are  needed  to  enlarge  the  fellowship  of  the  beginners 
and  who  also,  it  may  be,  need  the  loving  help  of  our  children. 

2.  Intimately  associated  with  this  cooperation  in  many  forms  of 
activity  is  the  training  in  worship,  through  songs  and  prayers  and  - 
verses,  that  serves  to  assist  conscious  fellowship  with  the  Father, 
and  to  identify  the  best  the  children  know  and  desire  with  his  will. 

3.  And  finally,  there  should  be  assistance  from  the  teacher  in  ^ 
the  way  of  stories  which  embody  examples  of  the  desired  conduct 
and  which  elicit  the  desired  attitude  and  help  to  formulate  the 


44  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

desired  ideal  —  stories  of  action  giving  vivid  experiences  of  animals 
or  children  or  men  in  situations  that  are  like  those  the  pupils  them- 
selves constantly  meet. 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

1.  Study  the  home  and  school  life  of  a  live-year-old  and  make  a 
list  (a)  of  conditions  which  favor  Christian  growth,  and  (b)  condi- 
tions which  hinder  the  same  child's  Christian  growth. 

2.  Compare  the  plays  of  five-year-olds  with  those  of  twelve-year- 
olds. 

3.  How  would  you  make  the  Christian  idea  of  God  vivid  to  chil- 
dren of  five  who  come  from  non-Christian  or  unchristian  homes? 

4.  What  ideas  of  God  have  you  discovered  among  five-year-old 
children?    How  would  you  change  these  ideas? 

6.  What  play  activities  of  five-year-olds  can  be  made  use  of  to 
promote  growth  in  Christian  living?  How  may  these  plays  be  used 
in  a  scheme  of  religious  education? 

6.  Read  Cases  10-19,  App.  I,  pp.  257  ff. 


CHAPTER  IV 

OBSERVING  THE  RELIGIOUS  LIFE  OF  CHILDREN 

The  Science  of  Child  Study  ^ 

If  the  suggestions  made  at  the  close  of  the  two  pre- 
ceding chapters  have  been  taken,  the  reader  has  by  this 
time  entered  on  that  fascinating  voyage  of  discovery, 
the  observation  of  children.  Probably  certain  of  the 
difficulties  that  one  meets  in  studying  children  have 
already  been  encountered.  What  shall  we  observe? 
What  Hght  will  the  things  we  observe  throw  on  the  prob- 
lem of  the  religious  life  of  children?  How  can  we  make 
the  best  use  of  the  results  of  our  observations?  Before 
undertaking  the  interpretation  of  the  next  period  of 
growth,  we  will  take  time  now,  therefore,  to  discuss  these 
questions. 

Selecting  our  Field  of  Study.  Interesting  as  are 
all  the  facts  of  child-life,  the  needs  of  our  study  compel 
us  to  confine  our  attention  to  certain  classes  of  facts, 
and,  for  the  most  part,  to  children  who  have  passed  the 
years  of  babyhood.  So  far  as  other  classes  of  facts  con- 
cern us,  we  shall  have  to  take  for  granted  a  few  general 
statements,  or  investigate  their  accuracy  at  some  other 
time. 

How  to  study  children  is  by  no  means  a  new  problem, 
as  the  numerous  results  of  such  study  clearly  indicate. 
We  wish  to  know  what  children  do.  We  cannot  look 
directly  into  their  minds  and  see  their  thoughts  and 

1  This  chapter  is  based  largely  on  an  article  by  the  author  in  Religious  Education 
for  October,  19  J  5.  quotations  from  which  are  freely  made. 

45 


46  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

feelings,  nor  would  these  necessarily  point  to  what  they 
are  going  to  do  next,  even  if  we  could  see  them.  The 
only  insight  into  their  thoughts  and  purposes  we  can 
get  is  through  the  observation  of  what  they  do,  nor  is  it 
unreasonable  to  suppose  that  what  they  think  is  what 
they  do. 

But  all  that  they  do  is  not  of  equal  importance  for  our 
particular  interest,  necessary  as  is  complete  knowledge 
for  a  complete  psychology  of  childhood.  For  such  com- 
prehensive knowledge,  so  far  as  it  exists,  we  must  go  to 
the  standard  works  on  child-nature. 

Our  selection  of  facts  for  study  is  based  on  our  interest 
in  the  child's  religious  development.  It  is  his  religious 
acts  that  most  concern  us. 

Religious  Behavior.  What  we  are  trying  to  produce « 
in  our  schools  of  rehgion  is  the  Christian  type  of  life. 
And  our  product  for  each  successive  year  is  a  type  of 
Hfe  as  nearly  Christian  as  we  can  make  it,  in  view  of  the 
limitations  of  the  pupil  in  capacity  and  experience  and 
environment.  It  is  at  once  seen  that  it  is  far  easier  to 
describe  and  test  the  final  product,  than  to  describe  and 
test  the  steps  by  which  this  product  is  reached.  What, 
for  example,  should  be  expected  of  a  child  of  ten  in  the 
way  of  Christian  attitudes?  In  this  or  that  situation, 
what  may  we  rightly  expect  him  to  do,  as  the  result  of 
his  Christian  training?  We  know  fairly  well  what  to 
expect  of  him  when  he  is  grown,  but  we  know  very  Httle 
about  what  we  ought  to  expect  of  him  along  the  way. 
Until  we  do  know,  we  shall  not  be  able  properly  to  formu- 
late our  purposes  with  respect  to  each  grade,  nor  to 
decide  intelligently  upon  just  the  methods  and  the  course 
of  study  needed  to  produce  this  desired  result. 

This  does  not  mean  that  we  have  no  aims,  beyond  our 


OBSERVING  RELIGIOUS  LIFE  47 

desire  to  have  our  boys  and  girls  grow  to  full  Christian 
maturity.  Rather  have  we  been  obliged  in  formulating 
these  aims  to  depend  almost  altogether  on  the  knowledge 
of  childhood  accumulated  by  persons  not  concerned  with 
rehgious  development.  We  know  a  good  deal  about  all 
sorts  of  behavior  which  is  more  or  less  involved  in  relig- 
ious behavior.  But  our  direct  knowledge  of  specifically 
religious  reactions  of  children  is  very  hmited. 

Here  are  some  illustrations  of  the  sort  of  facts  that  we 
should  try  to  gather.  A  story  was  told  in  the  service  of 
worship  in  a  certain  church  school  which  aimed  to  de- 
velop in  the  children  grateful  appreciation  of  what 
mothers  do  for  them  without  pay,  and  to  stimulate  the 
resolve  to  make  their  acts  correspond  with  this  sense  of 
obligation.  That  is,  an  effort  was  made  to  develop  a 
conscious  purpose  to  control  their  acts  in  accordance  with 
an  ideal.  A  seven-year-old  boy  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  depending  on  his  mother  for  help  in  dressing.  One 
morning  she  was  in  a  hurry  and  asked  him  to  put  on  his 
stockings  himself.  He  refused,  but  finally  suggested 
that  he  would  if  his  mother  would  give  him  a  piece  of 
candy.  His  mother  asked  him  how  it  would  do  for  him 
to  put  his  stockings  on  first  and  for  her  to  give  him  the 
candy  afterwards.  He  thought  a  minute  and  then 
decided  that  he  would  have  to  put  them  on  anyway  and 
not  take  the  candy,  giving  as  his  reason  the  fact  that  the 
principal  had  told  a  story  about  being  paid  for  things 
(*'  What  Bradley  Owed  ").  He  could  not  reproduce  the 
story,  but  the  attitude  developed  by  the  story  had  found 
actual  expression  in  his  daily  life,  and  he  achieved  a 
moral  victory  that  would  have  been  impossible  for  him 
without  that  experience. 

This,  you  see,  is  a  brief  description  of  a  child's  reaction 


48  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

in  a  social  situation.  Now,  suppose  we  had  a  thousand 
similar  instances  about  children  of  seven,  or  of  six,  or  of 
five.  Would  we  not  be  justified  in  saying  that  self- 
control  of  the  type  mentioned  can  be  developed  in  chil- 
dren of  a  certain  age,  to  at  least  the  degree  described, 
provided  proper  aid  be  given? 

Shortly  after  a  certain  school  adopted  the  practise  of 
using  unison  prayers  written  especially  for  the  children, 
the  fourth  grade  pupils  suggested  to  their  teacher  that 
they  have  a  prayer  to  be  used  just  in  their  own  class.  So 
the  teacher  said  that  any  who  wished  might  compose  the 
prayer  they  thought  would  do,  and  bring  it  the  following 
Sunday.  Ten  of  the  children  responded,  and  quite  of 
their  own  free  will  wrote  out  what  they  thought  such  a 
prayer  should  be  Hke.     Here  are  one  or  two  of  them : 

"  Our  heavenly  Father,  we  thank  thee  for  all  the  things  thou 
givest  us.  We  have  sinned  many  times  but  we  hope  thou  wilt 
forgive  us.  You  have  given  us  our  earthly  mothers  and  fathers, 
our  eyes  to  see  with,  our  nose  to  smell  with,  our  arms  and  hands  to 
feel  with,  our  legs  to  walk  with,  our  ears  to  hear  with,  and  our 
mouth  to  eat  with  and  many  other  wonderful  things. 

"  We  thank  thee  and  wish  thee  to  help  us  to  use  them  in  the  right 
way. 

"  This  we  ask  in  Jesus'  name.    Amen." 

"  Dear  Lord,  help  us  to  be  good,  and  help  us  to  have  sweet  tem- 
pers, and  be  kind  to  all  people  who  are  worse  off  than  we.  Please 
help  us  to  be  satisfied  with  all  we  have.  And  please  give  us  all  we 
need.  Please  forgive  us  all  our  sins,  for  we  are  sorry  for  all  the 
wrong  we  do.  Sometimes  we  know  we're  doing  something  wrong, 
and  then  we  are  very  sorry;  other  times  we  forget.  We  thank  thee, 
heavenly  Father,  for  all  you  have  given  us.  All  the  toys  that  we 
have,  our  lovely  homes,  and  the  good  schools  we  are  sent  to,  and  all 
the  food  and  clothing  we  have.  And  we  thank  thee  heartily  for  our 
fathers  and  mothers  whom  thou  hast  sent  to  care  for  us,  and  we  pray 
that  nothing  may  happen  to  them.    Amen." 


f 


OBSERVING  RELIGIOUS  LIFE  49 

From  a  study  of  these  two  prayers  no  assured  facts 
as  to  the  religious  capacity  of  nine-year-olds  can  be  ob- 
tained. It  is  clear  to  see  that  at  least  these  children,  with 
their  particular  background  of  experience,  showed  evi- 
dence of  certain  definite  religious  needs  and  appreciations. 
But  supposing  we  had  a  thousand  such  prayers,  prepared 
under  conditions  accurately  described,  would  we  not  be 
able  at  least  to  suggest  a  few  preliminary  standards  con- 
cerning certain  attitudes  we  may  expect  to  develop  in 
children  of  nine  years? 

One  more  instance.  A  class  of  fourteen-year-old  boys 
started  the  year  with  the  readiness  to  discuss  and  the 
reluctance  to  do  that  are  so  often  the  despair  of  teachers. 
It  did  not  seem  as  though  the  problems  of  Christian  con- 
duct that  they  took  up  in  class  had  any  intimate  relation 
to  their  own  practises.  Rehgion  and  life  were  things 
apart.  But  in  three  months  the  whole  situation  had 
changed.  Calls  for  sympathy  and  help  from  classmates 
or  from  persons  in  distress  were  no  longer  disregarded. 
Those  who  had  been  quite  indifferent  early  in  the  year 
became  now  enthusiastic  volunteers  in  every  enterprise. 
And  best  of  all,  they  all  saw  why  they  were  doing  these 
things.  They  were  consciously  putting  their  new-formed 
ideals  and  principles  into  practise.  They  were  making 
experiments  in  reUgion  and  were  discovering  that  re- 
ligion and  life  are  one. 

We  are  not  now  discussing  methods  of  teaching. 
But  suppose  we  had  a  complete  description  of  how  that 
teacher  went  to  work,  of  the  subjects  discussed,  the  ideals 
formed,  the  purposes  carried  through;  and  suppose  a 
thousand  other  teachers  should  record  similar  observa- 
tions —  would  we  not  have  immensely  valuable  informa- 
tion as  to  the  possibilities  of  boys  of  fourteen? 


50  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

Let  us  now  define  what  we  are  to  have  in  mind  in  our 
study  of  religious  behavior.  We  are  interested  in  relig- 
ious reactions.  But  how  are  we  going  to  know  a 
religious  reaction  when  we  see  it?  Let  us  recognize  at 
once  that  we  are  not  trying  to  distinguish  moral  from 
rehgious  acts  so  as  to  cultivate  one  apart  from  the  other. 
In  point  of  fact,  they  cannot  be  so  separated  in  practise. 
This  is  an  age  of  social  religion  and  religious  morality. 
-ReKgion  finds  its  highest  expression  in  an  ideal,  perma- 
nent, social  relation,  and  morality  finds  its  sanction  and 
motive  in  religious  experience.  The  religious  quahty 
of  an  act  is  not  to  be  discovered  by  observing  the  act, 
simply.  Rather  do  we  assign  it  a  religious  quaUty  when 
we  know  its  relation  to  the  individual's  past  acts,  his 
values,  and  purposes.  It  is  when  a  person's  acts  are" 
expressions  of  his  highest  purposes,  the  means  to  the 
attainment  of  his  highest  values,  that  we  call  them 
religious  acts. 

Acts  which  in  themselves  have  no  rehgious  quahty 
may  become  rehgious  acts,  when,  in  the  mind  of  the 
individual  who  performs  them,  they  are  consciously 
related  to  the  work  and  fellowship  of  the  divine-human 
society  we  call  the  kingdom  of  God.  A  man  is  rehgious 
just  to  the  extent  that  his  whole  being  responds  to  the 
world  of  things  permanent  and  things  ideal.  Naturally, 
all  men  do  not  have  the  same  ideals  nor  the  same  no- 
tions of  what  is  real,  and  of  what  is  of  most  worth. 
That  is  why  we  have  the  Mohammedan  rehgion  and  the 
Hindu  rehgion  and  the  Christian  rehgion,  the  rehgion 
of  the  child  and  the  rehgion  of  the  adult.  The  child  is- 
a  Christian  only  in  so  far  as  his  acts  are  controlled  by 
the  ideas  and  values  we  call  Christian;  but  he  is  rehg- 
ious in  so  far  as  he  is  capable  of  organizing  his  whole 


OBSERVING  RELIGIOUS  LIFE  51 

being  around  what  is  conceived  by  him  to  be  of  most 
worth.     We  have,  thus,  two  types  of  growth  in  religion. 

-One  is  growth  in  capacity  to  form  and  carry  out  purposes ; 

_the  other  is  growth  in  the  quaUty  of  purposes  formed 
and  the  quahty  of  the  ideals  and  values  with  reference 
to  which  they  are  formed.  What  we  need  to  know  is: 
What  sort  of  working  ideals  do  children  have,  and  can 
children  have,  at  various  stages  of  growth? 
So  we  have  to  consider  such  questions  as  these : 

1.  How  does  the  child  behave  in  various  social  situations? 

2.  What  is  the  relation  of  his  behavior  to  his  consciousness  of 
what  ought  to  be  done  in  these  situations? 

3.  What  purposes  does  the  child  form?    Does  he  carry  them  out? 

4.  What  is  the  child's  idea  of  God?  What  place  does  God  have 
in  the  child's  experience? 

5.  What  does  the  child  value  most?  What  experiences,  or  things, 
or  relations,  does  he  regard  as  of  most  worth? 

If  questions  of  this  character  could  be  asked  concern- 
ing a  great  many  children  of  various  ages,  and  the 
answers  could  be  properly  tabulated,  we  would  be 
in  a  fair  way  to  state  the  degree  of  Christianity 
that  one  might  expect  of  any  normal  child  at  the 
age  given. 

But  this  does  not  tell  us  how  much  progress  a  child 
ought  to  make  under  given  conditions. 

In  order  to  discover  this,  it  would  be  necessary  to  - 
check  up  the  results  just  indicated  by  a  study  of  individ- 
ual children  covering  a  period  of  time.  That  is,  in 
order  to  measure  progress  one  must  know  the  state  at 
the  beginning  and  at  the  end  of  the  period  in  question^ 
and  compare  the  two  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  the 
difference  between  them.  The  account  of  the  class  of 
high-school  boys  was  such  a  study.     With  good  teaching 


52  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

it  was  found  that  certain  customary  opinions  concerning 
the  relation  of  rehgion  to  Ufe  could  be  completely  re- 
versed in  a  stated  time.  The  same  sort  of  observation 
should  be  made  on  a  great  many  different  matters  and 
with  a  great  many  different  children,  in  order  that  the 
amount  of  growth  and  progress  proper  to  each  of  these 
matters  in  a  given  space  of  time  and  with  individuals 
under  different  conditions  may  be  ascertained. 

The  General  Principles  of  Observation.  So  much 
for  what  we  shall  observe.  But  how  shall  we  go  at  it? 
All  we  can  do  here  is  to  outline  the  general  principles 
involved  and  sketch  a  method  for  discussion. 

First,  as  to  principles  of  child-study.  There  is  a 
large  amount  of  data  on  children's  ways  that  is  almost 
worthless  because  it  is  incomplete  in  one  respect.  We 
are  told,  for  example,  that  at  a  certain  age  a  child  has  a 
tendency  to  get  angry;  at  another  age  he  develops  a 
tendency  to  fear ;  at  another  age  he  is  capable  of  love  and 
hate.  But  unless  we  know  under  just  what  conditions 
he  is  angry  or  afraid,  or  just  what  he  loves  and  hates  and 
what  experiences  lead  up  to  his  loving  and  hating,  then 
the  mere  knowledge  that  he  is  capable  of  anger  and  all 
the  rest  is  of  little  use.  The  first  principle  in  observa- 
tion is,  therefore,  to  observe  the  situation^  as  well  as  the 
act  or  idea  that  is  called  forth  by  the  situation.  In  studying 
a  child's  prayers,  for  example,  it  is  not  enough  to  say 
that  the  child  said  this  or  that.  It  is  necessary  to  record 
also  the  experience  that  led  up  to  his  saying  this  or  that, 
and  the  character  of  the  total  situation  in  which  the 
prayer  was  said  —  the  mood,  the  attitude,  the  experi- 
ences of  the  day,  the  suggestions  of  the  mother,  and  80 
on.i 

»Cf.  the  instance  in  Chapter  III,  p.  39. 


OBSERVING  RELIGIOUS  LIFE  53 

The  second  principle  is  this:  To  discover  if  possible 
the  relation  of  the  act  observed  to  the  child^s  notion  of  why 
he  did  it.  We  are  not  content  to  develop  automatons 
which  perform  the  desired  acts  at  the  proper  time. 
We  want  intelHgent  human  beings,  acting  in  accordance 
with  self-chosen  purposes,  and  with  understanding  of  the 
relation  of  their  acts  to  the  social  group  of  which  each  is 
a  member.  The  boy  referred  to  in  Chapter  III,  who 
gave  away  his  cap,  had  a  motive  for  doing  so.  He  did 
it  because  he  knew  it  was  expected  of  him  as  a  member 
of  that  Uttle  society  of  which  God  and  Jesus  and  father 
and  mother  and  playmates  were  all  members.  We 
might  wish  that  he  had  been  generous  also,  but  for  him 
this  act  represented  a  motive  higher  than  mere  good 
feeling.  It  was  the  attempt  to  carry  out  a  self-chosen 
purpose  to  be  obedient  and  kind  as  God's  child  should 
be.  It  is  this  attitude  of  mind  that  gave  this  act  its 
religious  quality. 

Attempts  should  be  made  to  discover  motives,  and 
purposes,  and  ideals,  and  notions  of  right  and  wrong,  and 
of  other  social  relations,  not  by  guessing,  but  by  making 
more  observations,  by  observing  the  total  reactions  of  a 
child  to  whole  situations. 

The  two  principles  so  far  mentioned  —  to  regard  acts 
as  responses  to  situations,  and  to  note,  if  possible,  the 
relation  of  the  acts  to  purposes  and  values  —  are  con- 
cerned with  the  methods  of  observing  isolated  acts.  The 
accumulation  of  facts  of  this  character  would  be  of  great 
value  for  certain  purposes ;  but  it  would  be  of  only  shght 
use  for  precise  description  of  the  Unes  and  periods  of 
growth  unless  checked  by  a  study  of  the  growth  of  in- 
dividual children.  Given  such  and  such  a  degree  of 
skill,  how  long  should  it  take  to  acquire  such  another 


54  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

degree  of  skill?  Or  in  view  of  this  child's  previous  train- 
ing in  religion,  what  ought  we  to  try  to  accompUsh  with 
him  during  this  church-school  year? 

An  approach  to  the  solution  of  this  difficult  problem  of 
individual  rates  of  growth  will  be  made  if  we  can  plan 
our  observations  of  reHgious  reactions  to  cover  definite 
periods  of  time.  We  will  describe  what  a  child  does  in 
a  given  situation  in  November,  and  then  find  out  what 
he  does  in  a  similar  situation  in  April,  and  compare  the 
two  reactions,  not  forgetting  to  indicate  the  influences 
that  have  been  brought  to  bear  upon  him  between  these 
dates.  And  so  we  have  the  third  principle  of  study: 
To  observe  the  reactions  of  a  child  to  similar  situations  at 
different  times. 

Guiding  Rules  for  Observers.  It  will  be  helpful  to 
indicate  in  a  few  brief  rules  how  these  principles  of  obser- 
vation will  affect  our  own  study  of  children. 
^  1.  In  making  an  observation,  record  the  date,  the  age 
and  sex  of  the  child,  and  some  key,  such  as  the  child's 
name  or  initials,  by  which  the  observation  can  later  be 
referred  to  or  identified. 

2.  The  home  life  of  a  child  is  usually  a  determining 
factor  in  his  rehgious  and  moral  reactions.  If  possible, 
therefore,  observe  and  record  how  religion  is  treated  in 
his  home,  and  what  the  general  conditions  are.  What 
are  the  religious  attitudes  and  habits  of  each  parent? 
Is  religion  talked  about  in  the  home?  What  is  said 
about  it?  Describe  the  family  worship,  if  there  is  any. 
What  type  of  rehgion  is  characteristic  of  those  employed 
to  attend  the  child?  What  is  the  method  of  family 
government  and  discipline?  What  are  the  intellectual 
interests  of  the  home?  About  how  much  is  the  family 
income? 


OBSERVING  RELIGIOUS  LIFE  55 

3.  Exclude  from  the  record  of  observations  all  items 
of  hearsay. 

-  4.  Distinguish  between  what  is  observed  and  what  is 
inferred.  We  can  not  observe  emotions,  ideas,  motives, 
or  choices  in  others.  We  can  only  observe  acts  and  words 
and  other  modes  of  expression,  and  the  consequences  and 
products  of  a  child's  acts.  Exclude  opinions  such  as 
"  One  day  when  Ohver  had  been  naughty  "  —  say  what 
he  did. 

5.  Record  ordinary  as  well  as  extraordinary  conduct. 
We  need  to  know  what  any  ordinary  child  may  be  ex- 
pected to  do  and  say  under  ordinary  circumstances. 

6.  With  the  record  of  an  act  should  go  a  careful  state- 
ment of  the  situation  in  which  the  act  occurred.  By 
*'  situation  "  is  meant  anything  that  throws  hght  on 
what  he  desired,  attempted,  enjoyed  or  disHked,  thought 
about,  meant  by  his  words,  and  why  he  made  just  this 
reaction  rather  than  some  other,  e.  g.,  where  was  the 
child?  who  was  present?  what  was  going  on?  what  had 
the  child  been  doing  immediately  before?  what  had  been 
said  in  his  hearing?  what  previous  experience  had  he  had 
of  such  situations? 

7.  Observe  a  child  under  as  many  different  situations 
as  possible.  In  this  way  one  reaction  will  throw  Hght 
upon  another.  The  most  valuable  records  are  those  of 
the  same  child  over  a  period  of  years. 

8.  Get  hold  of  diaries,  journals,  letters,  stories  written, 
drawings,  and  the  Hke,  that  throw  Ught  on  the  child's 
moral  and  reUgious  growth.  Photographs  showing  chil- 
dren doing  any  spontaneous  act  are  of  great  value. ^ 

1  Readers  may  be  interested  in  a  pamphlet  called  Cooperative  Study  of  the  Relig- 
ious Life  of  Children,  which  contains  a  set  of  valuable  questions  for  the  guidance 
of  observation.  It  is  printed  by  the  Religious  Education  Association,  1440  East 
57th  Street,  Chicago,  and  will  be  sent  free  on  request. 


56  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

Experimental  Observation.  Suppose  hundreds  of 
cases,  such  as  those  suggested  here,  were  to  be  accumu- 
lated and  classified  by  types  of  situation  and  types  of 
behavior.  It  would  be  discovered  that  a  few  children  of 
a  certain  age  were  capable  of  behaving  in  a  certain  way 
under  certain  conditions,  and  in  another  way  under 
other  conditions,  and  so  on,  through  every  type  of  be- 
havior reported  on  and  for  each  age.  A  list  of  observed 
behaviors  would  result.  But  are  these  behaviors  char- 
acteristic or  normal?  The  only  way  to  find  out  is  to  try 
out  a  lot  more  children  and  see  what  proportion  of  them 
behave  in  the  way  indicated  for  the  appropriate  ages. 
By  repeating  experiments  and  changing  the  tests,  a  set 
of  standard  types  of  behavior  would  gradually  be  de- 
veloped for  each  age  of  childhood,  so  that  we  could  say 
confidently,  "  Eighty  out  of  one  hundred  children  of 
professional  parents  will,  by  the  second  birthday,  be 
able  to  ignore  books  on  the  lowest  shelves,  or  at  least  will 
not  touch  them  when  requested  not  to  ";  or,  "  Seventy 
out  of  every  one  hundred  children  of  all  classes  will 
possess  a  similar  seK-control.''  And  so  on,  through  a 
long  list  of  typical  situations  of  childhood.  We  would 
know  that  the  twenty  or  thirty  per  cent  of  children  who 
could  not  do  this  are  to  this  extent  below  standard  and 
need  special  training  or  patience. 

It  will  be  a  long  time  before  such  laws  of  behavior  will 
result  from  the  study  of  children.  Meanwhile,  the  best 
we  can  do  is  to  accumulate  facts  and  classify  them  as 
best  we  may.  The  following  ways  of  putting  together 
things  that  belong  together  are  suggested : 

System  in  Observation.  Students  would  do  well 
to  have  a  child-study  notebook,  loose  leaf.  This  should 
have  a  sort  of  daybook  and  ledger  arrangement,  so  that 


OBSERVING  RELIGIOUS  LIFE  57 

the  facts  concerning  different  children  can  be  kept 
separate,  and  facts  concerning  the  same  type  of  behavior 
be  assembled.  If  only  one  child  is  being  studied,  the 
diary-form  is  satisfactory,  with  the  separate  obser- 
vations carefully  listed.  If  several  children  are  being 
studied  for  any  length  of  time,  each  should  have  his  own 
pages  in  the  notebook. 

As  far  as  possible,  each  complete  observation  should 
occupy  a  separate  page  so  that  it  can  be  easily  removed 
and  placed  with  similar  observations  for  purposes  of 
comparison.  This  necessitates  some  simple  system  of 
identification,  so  that  pages  once  removed  can  be  easily 
reassembled.     Such  a  method  is  represented  below. 


Age Sex Date Classification. 

Name  or  Identification 


Significant  facts  about  child's  family 

Significant  facts  about  child's  home  life,  etc. 


What  the  child  said  and  did,  and  the  occasion,  i.  e.,  the  situation 
and  the  response.  Include  all  essentials,  not  forgetting:  persons 
present,  previous  happenings,  the  time  and  place. 


But  some  guide  to  constructive  thinking  about  the 
facts  observed  is  needed.  We  should  have  a  scheme 
or  diagram  on  which  to  hang  our  facts.  This  diagram 
should  approximate  wholeness  and  comprehensiveness, 
so  as  to  avoid  our  getting  into  the  habit  of  thinldng  of 
the  child  as  a  diagram  or  as  made  up  of  various  quahties 
and    abilities.     Further,    the    emphasis    in    this    chart 


58 


CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 


should  be  on  the  child's  behavior  in  its  setting.  The 
bare  bones  of  such  a  scheme  will  be  found  in  Appendix 
III,  Chart  A. 

Various  summaries  of  facts  by  which  groups  of  differ- 
ent ages  can  be  compared  more  definitely  are  also  help- 
ful, e.  g.,  Question  1,  below,  would  secure  the  detailed 
information  on  the  basis  of  which  a  chart  Hke  the  follow- 
ing could  be  prepared. 


THE    WAT    BOYS    SPEND    THEIR   TIME 

The  time,  in  hours,  is  the  average  per  week  for  those  reporting 
the  activity. 

AVERAGE  HOURS  FOR  NUMBER  REPORTING 

ACTIVITY                                          THOSE  REPORTING  IN  EACH  GROUP 

Age  groups:  12-14          15-17  12-14     15-17 

Asleep 70.4            63  14           7 

Awake 97.6           105  14           7 

At  Home 35.6             34.5  14            7 

At  School 33               27  14           6 

Study 8                10.4  14            6 

Church  School 1.5              1.5  11            6 

Study  for  Church  School. . .          0.3               0  ?            0 

Special  Lessons 4.5              1.5  7           2 

Entertainments 5                  7.3  5            6 

Housework 2.3               1.5  4            3 

Business 1.5              1.5  1            1* 

Indoor  Play 8.6               6.4  7            5 

Outdoor  Play 11.7               8.5  14            7 

Meals  and  Dressing 14.5             14  14            7 

Miscellaneous 6                 4.5  4            2 

Unaccounted  for 9                 9  11            7 

♦Of  those  in  school. 

Help  will  also  be  found  in  E.  P.  St.  John's  chart,^ 
and  in  Coe's  chart  reproduced  in  Appendix  III. 

» A  valuable  Chart  of  Childhood,  published  by  The  Pilgrim  Press,  Boston. 


OBSERVING  RELIGIOUS  LIFE  59 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

1.  Secure  detailed  time  schedules  from  as  many  children  as 
possible  (one  is  better  than  none),  and  summarize  your  findings  as 
shown  above,  under  "  The  Way  Boys  Spend  Their  Time."  A  con- 
venient form  for  recording  facts  is  shown  in  Appendix  III,  Chart  C. 

2.  If  you  have  any  other  way  of  thinking  of  "  religious  acts  " 
than  that  described  in  this  chapter,  write  out  your  point  of  view  and 
give  illustrations  of  acts  you  would  prefer  to  call  religious.  Analyze 
the  illustrations. 

3.  Visit  a  child  at  home  and  then  at  school  and  compare  his 
behavior  in  the  two  situations.  How  does  this  child  behave  in 
church  school?  What  is  the  relation  between  his  behavior  at  home 
and  at  either  school? 

-  4.  Start  a  collection  of  children's  prayers. 

6.  The  following  references  will  be  found  useful  at  this  stage  of 
our  study: 

George  A.  Coe,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,  Chapters  I 
and  II. 

George  A.  Coe,  A  Social  Theory  of  Religious  Education,  Chapter  IV. 

E.  A.  Kirkpatrick,  The  Individual  in  the  Making,  Chapter  I. 


CHAPTER  V 
LITTLE  FELLOWS  SIX  TO  EIGHT 

Helping  Children  Grow  in  the  Religious  Life 

General  Changes  of  Mind  and  Body.    By  the 

time  a  child  is  in  Grade  I,  he  will  have  become  fairly 
steady  in  his  grip  upon  the  real  world  of  persons  and 
things.  Some  children,  to  be  sure,  seem  to  let  go  of 
their  imaginary  world  with  difficulty,  and  confuse  the 
fanciful  and  the  actual  for  a  long  time.  Others  are 
excessively  matter-of-fact  and  find  no  pleasure  in  flights 
of  fancy.  They  want  hard  facts  and  cold  truth.  Most 
children,  however,  still  enjoy  fairy  stories,  and,  while 
not  really  believing  them,  can  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the 
tale  with  whole-hearted  enthusiasm.  They  "  play  up  '^ 
easily  and  respond  with  ready  feehng  to  the  lead 
of  teacher  or  pupil.  This  readiness  to  respond  in  all 
sorts  of  unexpected  ways  to  all  sorts  of  unforeseen  stimuli 
is  a  perplexing  problem  for  the  teacher.  With  active 
minds  and  bodies,  the  seven-year-olds,  unless  subdued 
by  an  oppressive  school  or  home  Hfe  or  by  weakness, 
offer  a  fund  of  exuberant  vitahty  which  only  waits  the 
guiding  hand  of  the  teacher  to  be  transformed  into  con- 
trolled cooperation. 

During  these  years,  most  of  the  children  will  learn  to 
read  and  write  and  figure.  But  reading  and  writing  are 
not  yet  so  well  under  control  as  to  be  economical  means 
of  expression.  It  is  not  in  the  control  of  the  finer 
coordinations  needed  for  free  use  of  eye  and  hand  that 

60 


LITTLE  FELLOWS  SIX  TO  EIGHT  61 

growth  is  most  conspicuous.  It  is  in  the  use  of  arms  and 
legs  that  most  progress  is  made.  Watch  how  much  more 
sure-footed  and  vigorous  the  eight -year-old  is  than  the 
five-year-old.  The  httle  fellows  seem  very  small  to  be 
sure  when  compared  with  those  of  ten  or  twelve,  but 
they  are  far  more  able  to  care  for  themselves  than  they 
were  three  years  before.  Running  games  are  favorites. 
Tag  is  universal.  Just  to  chase  another  is  a  dehght, 
and  of  equal  excitement  is  it  to  be  chased. 

Physical  Limitations.  But  it  is  easy  for  these  little 
fellows  to  overdo.  Their  love  of  activity  goes  beyond 
their  endurance,  and  they  finish  many  a  day  quite  worn 
out.  This  is  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  their  hearts  and 
lungs  have  not  developed  as  rapidly  as  their  locomotive 
powers,  and  so  cannot  keep  up  the  strain  of  constant 
recuperation  from  muscular  fatigue.  Care  must  be 
taken,  therefore,  that  older  children  do  not  tempt 
the  younger  ones  to  play  beyond  their  strength. 

Growing  Stability  and  Self -Control.  Coupled 
with  this  growth  in  size  and  control  is  the  growth  of 
experience  with  things  and  people.  Part  of  the  increas- 
ing stability  is  due  simply  to  the  fixing  of  habits,  the 
achieving  of  particular  skills  in  acts  that  heretofore  have 
consumed  much  time  and  energy.  It  is  no  longer  a 
supreme  task  to  get  dressed  and  undressed.  The  friction 
of  conflict  of  desires  is  lessening  by  the  achievement  of 
a  social  consciousness  that  recognizes  the  superiority  of' 
the  group  and  by  a  gradual  accumulation  of  habits 
of  adjustment  which  ehminate  conscious  strains  and 
efforts.  Obedience  to  the  customs  of  the  family  hfe,  • 
if  these  are  wise,  should  be  fast  becoming  automatic. 
The  increasing  desire  to  "  stay  up,"  for  example,  should 
be  anticipated  by  creating  a  delight  in  the  regular  bed- 


62  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

time  hour.  The  crystaKzing  of  routine  should  relieve 
the  impulsive  and  whimsical  little  fellows  of  the  tyranny 
of  their  own  caprice. 

Growing  stability  is  due  also  to  an  increase  in  the 
accuracy  of  images  of  conduct,  and  the  increasing  con- 
trol of  conduct  by  practical  concepts  which  assist  in  the 
recognition  of  famihar  elements  in  new  situations  and 
in  calling  out  appropriate  responses.  The  "  cues " 
to  proper  action  are  increasing  in  number,  and  less  and 
less  is  the  child  dependent  on  the  unintelligent  impulse 
of  original  nature.  In  other  words,  the  children  are 
accumulating  a  stock  of  experience  on  which  they  can 
draw,  and  on  the  basis  of  which  they  can  interpret  and 
control  the  future. 

The  Purposeful  Organization  of  Acts  and  In- 
terests. To  just  what  extent  purposes  can  be  formed 
and  utilized  by  children  of  six,  seven  and  eight  we  do 
not  fully  know.  Nor  do  we  know  just  the  nature  of 
the  purposes  that  are  most  effective  in  controlling  con- 
duct. We  do  know  that  even  more  than  with  adults 
the  actual  connections  between  ideas  and  acts  must  be 
made  in  experience  if  ideas  of  acts  are  to  serve  as  agents 
of  control.  The  child  who  cannot  stop  an  impulsive 
tendency  and  cannot  anticipate  in  imagination  the 
consequences  of  various  possible  reactions  and  choose 
among  them  is  not  yet  capable  of  rehgious  behavior. 
He  is  moving  not  toward  organization,  but  toward  dis- 
organization of  life. 

The  boy  learns  the  uses  of  tools  by  watching  and  help- 
ing his  father  use  tools.  The  girl  learns  the  purpose  of  a 
broom  by  having  a  broom  of  her  own  with  which  she 
can  perform  the  same  acts  that  her  mother  performs. 
In  the  same  way,  the  boy  learns  to  foresee  results  and 


LITTLE  FELLOWS  SIX  TO  EIGHT         63 

adapt  means  to  ends  by  participating  with  his  father  in 
an  enterprise  which  involves  planning  toward  a  desired 
result.  The  girl  discovers  her  mother's  purpose  in  the 
cleanliness  of  the  room  by  sharing  in  the  work  of  making 
two  square  feet  of  the  room  clean.  These  are  simple 
elements  in  a  complex  sharing  of  purposes  and  plans  with 
the  whole  family  and  with  other  cooperating  groups  of 
children  and  grown-ups,  by  which  the  child  acquires 
social  experience  and  social  purposes. 

The  Broadening  of  Human  Interest  and  Contact. 
The  range  of  the  social  contacts  of  children  in  the 
elementary  grades  is  of  course  much  broader  than  that 
of  the  Beginners.  School  Ufe  is  more  complex.  The 
street  is  more  often  accessible,  and  for  too  many  children 
it  is  the  only  playground.  The  Uttle  fellows  are  learn- 
ing to  buy  things  in  stores,  and  so  they  meet  in  a  con- 
crete way  certain  real  economic  problems  and  problems 
of  social  adjustment.  They  ride  on  the  cars,  they  see 
the  postman  make  his  rounds;  the  same  delivery  boy 
that  brings  things  to  eat  to  his  home  is  now  seen  pushing 
his  cart  or  driving  his  horse ;  and  the  goods  that  used  to 
appear  mysteriously  on  the  table  are  now  seen  piled  up 
on  counters  and  purchased  by  buyers  of  every  descrip- 
tion. 

The  imaginary  world  is  also  enlarging  by  the  increasing 
fund  of  stories  and  incidents  listened  to  in  school,  at 
table  —  and  from  under  the  table  when  nobody  knows 
that  the  big  ears  of  the  little  pitchers  are  keenly  on  the 
job. 

Intellectual  Interests.  A  growing  curiosity  about 
things  and  people  makes  instruction  relatively  easy 
up  to  a  certain  point,  but  beyond  this  point  it  becomes 
relatively  hard.     For  the  interest  of  childhood  is  various, 


64  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

not  persistent.  Quickly  satisfied  with  an  easy  and 
shallow  explanation,  the  children  of  fortune  become 
blase  and  all-wise,  and  for  them  there  is  about  some 
topics  "  nothing  new  under  the  sun.'' 

Guiding  the  Instincts.     Intellectual  life,  in  other - 
words,  is  relatively  of  minor  importance.     The  working  ^ 
out   of   great   physical  instincts   makes   an   irresistible 
demand  upon  attention  and  interest,  and  the  training  we 
provide  largely  concerns  the  proper  guidance  of  these 
tendencies   in    channels   of   valuable   experience.     The^ 
unorganized  games  of  childhood  in  which  every  man  is 
for  himself  yet  without   keen  desire  for  victory  provide 
splendid  training  in  muscular  control  and  afford  also 
an  experience  in  at  least  a  limited  cooperation  for  a 
good  time.     The  very  limitations  in  the  capacity  for 
team-play  call   attention   to    problems   of   adjustment 
and  to  the  underlying  conditions  of  having  fun  together. 
The  parental  instinct  can  be  directed  into  channels  of 
social  usefulness  as  an  antidote  to  the  tendency  to  tease  ^ 
and  annoy,  while  the  teasing  can  be  brought  vividly  to 
consciousness  as  an  undesirable  type  of  activity  by  a 
social  scorn  which  deprives  the  offender  of  the  right  to    ' 
cooperate  in  the  common  fun. 

The  Educational  Value  of  Imitative  Plays.  Be- 
yond making  use  of  the  instinctive  activities  mentioned, 
however,  we  have  a  splendid  ally  in  the  delight  children 
take  in  representing  the  activities  of  their  elders.  By 
playing  at  housekeeping,  at  buying  and  selling,  at 
school-teaching,  and  so  on,  the  children  acquire  a  basis 
in  experience  for  a  better  understanding  of  these  social 
enterprises,  and  a  group  of  habits  that  makes  more  con- 
scious cooperation  easier.  But  this  more  conscious  co- 
operation should  not  be  postponed.     The  spirit  of  play 


LITTLE  FELLOWS  SIX  TO  EIGHT         65 

is  not  destroyed  when  the  children  can  be  made  to  feel 
that  playing  at  keeping  house  may  be  of  real  value  to 
the  family  hfe.  It  all  depends  on  the  degree  to  which 
the  older  members  of  the  family  can  put  the  play  spirit 
into  the  round  of  household  duties.  Why  should  not 
parents  and  children  together  play  at  their  work,  the 
elders  entering  into  the  reaUty  of  the  child's  world  of 
play  and  the  children  catching  the  spirit  of  the  game  of 
life  from  the  good  sportsmanship  of  father  and  mother? 

The  Development  of  Attitudes.  What  the  family 
does  and  feels  determines  chiefly  the  social  development 
of  the  children  of  this  age.  The  principle  of  learning 
the  acts  and  purposes  connected  with  the  use  of  things 
through  cooperation  with  others  who  are  using  things  for 
a  purpose  applies  also  to  the  learning  of  the  forms  and 
purposes  of  Christian  behavior.  The  Christian  attitude, 
is  caught,  just  as  the  unchristian  attitude  is.  Children 
are  not  naturally  snobs.  Though  some  may  be  born 
snobs,  most  of  our  httle  snobs  have  had  snobbishness 
thrust  upon  them  by  their  fussy  parents.  The  race 
problem  among  children  is  the  natural  consequence  of 
racial  antagonism  among  parents.  Let  the  children 
alone  and  matters  of  color  and  race  are  not  within  the 
field  of  attention.  In  the  fraternity  of  childhood,  all 
are  welcome  who  will  play  the  game. 

Socialization  Through  Loyalty  to  Family.  Loyalty 
to  the  family  and  its  attitudes  is  at  once  a  hope  and  a 
stumbling-block  for  the  teacher  of  religion.  The  child 
resents  any  reflection  on  his  parents'  superiority.  He 
has  a  real  family  pride  even  at  the  tender  age  of  six.- 
This  is  a  worthy  feehng.  We  desire  not  less  of  such 
loyalty,  but  more.  The  child  not  only  is  a  part  of  the 
little  group;  he  is  now  becoming  conscious  of  the  fact 


66  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

that  there  are  other  similar  groups.  At  the  same  time 
that  he  is  emerging  as  a  self-conscious  member  of  a- 
Uttle  circle  of  family  and  playmates,  his  family  itself  is 
emerging  in  his  consciousness  as  a  social  unit,  which  he 
identifies  now  with  himself.  By  and  by  he  will  identify 
himself  with  other  and  larger  units  until  finally  this 
socializing  process  completes  itself  in  identification  with 
the  universal  society,  the  achievement  of  a  completely 
socialized  will. 

Elementary  Cooperation  in  the  Christian  Pro- 
gram. The  church -school  class  can  make  a  vital  con- 
tribution to  this  process.  It  can  make  cooperation  in 
some  Christian  endeavor  the  most  interesting  thing 
in  the  world.  The  particular  forms  of  Christian  activity 
that  are  appropriate  to  the  early  years  of  childhood  are  ' 
largely  the  forms  of  simple  neighborliness.  Problems  of 
social  reconstruction  to  which  the  children  can  make  no 
present  contribution  should  not  be  forced  upon  their 
attention.  If  these  are  problems  which  they  face,  how- 
ever, in  their  daily  Hves,  they  cannot  be  ignored,  and 
the  children  will  have  to  be  convinced  that  some  one  is 
trying  to  help  matters.  The  son  of  a  wage-earner  who 
can  find  no  employment  is  directly  confronted  with  a 
great  social  problem  about  which  Christianity  has  some- 
thing to  say.  Although  the  seven-year-old  son  can 
himself  as  yet  do  nothing  about  the  removal  of  the  con- 
dition of  unemployment,  he  can  be  led  to  have  the 
Christian's  resentment  at  the  condition,  and  to  beheve 
(if  true)  that  Christians  are  trying,  not  only  to  help  his  - 
father  get  work  now,  but  to  help  all  fathers  always.  If 
the  strain  arises  between  loyalty  to  family  and  loyalty 
to  the  church  as  represented  in  the  church-school  class,  r 
it  will  be  because  the  church  is  faiUng  in  its  Christian 


LITTLE  FELLOWS  SIX  TO  EIGHT  67 

duty  toward  the  family,  and  church  and  child  alike  will 
be  the  victims  of  this  tragic  neglect. 

'*  Cooperation  "  versus  **  Charity."  The  question 
is  always  raised :  What  can  children  of  these  tender  years 
actually  do  in  the  way  of  real  social  cooperation? 

Let  us  first  get  rid  of  certain  notions  of  service  which 
are  vicious  in  their  effect  upon  the  child's  rehgious  de- 
velopment. By  simple  neighborUness  we  do  not  mean 
condescending  hand-outs  to  '*  the  poor,"  nor  are  we 
Hmited  in  our  social  horizon  to  a  series  of  geographic 
circles  ever  widening  in  their  area. 

The  Achievement  of  Friendship  and  Justice. 
Anything  which  creates  class  consciousness  is  to  be 
avoided  as  the  invention  of  the  devil.  But  how?  It  is 
clear  that  here,  as  in  so  many  other  cases,  no  man  can 
be  saved  alone.  As  long  as  some  are  outside  and  some 
inside,  the  children  of  the  insiders  will  look  down  on  the 
outsiders  and  vice  versa.  And  to  be  inside  instead  of 
outside  means,  psychologically,  to  be  working  together 
for  a  common  purpose.  It  means  being  friends,  not 
dolers  and  recipients  of  charity.  It  means  giving  the 
child's  instinctive  love  the  controlling  vision  of  justice. 
Not  that  love  should  first  seek  justice  for  itself  and  tem- 
per its  good-will  with  calculation  of  its  own  right,  but 
that  it  should  first  seek  justice  for  all,  and  infuse  into  its 
good-will  a  glowing  enthusiasm  for  the  rights  of  all,  even 
the  rights  of  enemies. 

The  benevolences,  therefore,  are  to  be  transformed  into 
the  costs  of  justice  and  the  gifts  of  friendship. 

Cultivating  the  Attitude  of  Brotherhood.  One 
of  the  ways  by  which  a  universal  attitude  of  brotherhood 
can  be  cultivated,  in  contrast  with  the  counterfeit 
called  by  this  name,  is  this.     Our  attitudes  are  simply 


68  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

phases  of  our  activity.  They  are  a  part  of  our  general 
movement  toward  some  biological  or  human  end.  It 
is  helpful,  however,  to  pick  them  out  of  the  stream  of 
life  and  center  our  attention  on  them.  We  can  some- 
times best  get  our  interpretation  of  action  by  studying  - 
the  attitude  that  goes  with  it. 

We  find  that  we  can  insert  an  influence  into  the  stream 
of  life's  activity  at  the  point  where  attitude  is  prominent 
in  consciousness,  and,  by  controlHng  the  attitude,  con- 
trol also  the  thought  and  act.  Attitudes  foretell  our 
acts  as  well  as  our  thoughts.  But  they  also  grow  out  of 
acts  and  thoughts.  Each  achievement  reflects  upon  the 
general  attitudes  that  precede  future  achievements,  and 
each  achievement  influences  each  next  achievement,  not 
merely  by  the  extra  wear  upon  the  ruts  of  our  nervous 
mechanism,  but  by  the  effect  upon  our  whole  mental  set. 
To  establish  relatively  permanent  mental  sets  that  are 
characteristically  Christian  is  one  of  our  main  objects. 
We  must  therefore  plan  for  the  kind  of  action  which  will 
have  as  part  of  its  effect  the  forming  of  these  social  atti- 
tudes. 

To  allow  the  child  to  find  satisfaction  in  snobbish  acts 
is  to  confirm  him  in  snobbish  attitudes  and  to  assist  him 
to  organize  his  whole  outlook  on  life  in  aristocratic  forms. 
If  he  is  to  have  the  same  friendly  and  humble  attitude 
toward  all,  he  must  treat  all  aUke,  and  assume  in  all  the 
same  fundamental  desire  for  the  great  end  of  life,  which 
is  social  justice.  Among  his  circle  of  friends,  therefore, 
the  child  must  count  children  of  as  many  classes  and 
races  as  possible,  and  with  all  he  must  assume  a  friendly 
cooperation  for  the  good  of  all.  This  means,  for  the- 
child,  sharing  good  times,  giving  presents  which  add  to 
another's  happiness,  exchanging  postals  with  other  chil- 


LITTLE  FELLOWS  SIX  TO  EIGHT  69 

dren,  or  doing  other  things  that  will  increase  the  feeling 
of  friendship,  and  doing  these  things  entirely  without 
reference  to  the  other  child's  geographical  or  social  or 
economic  or  intellectual  position. 

World  Fellowship.  This  brings  us  to  the  second 
problem,  that  of  the  theory  of  concentric  circles.  The 
child  of  course  begins  his  social  contacts  somewhere,  and 
gradually  increases  them.  But  these  increases  are  not 
by  any  means  geographically  determined.  They  might 
have  been  so  determined  when  there  were  no  means 
of  transportation  or  communication  with  those  outside 
one's  own  hamlet.  But  today  the  world  is  one  com- 
munity, and  what  goes  on  in  China  is  known  here  before  it 
is  known  by  China's  own  four  hundred  milHons.  It  is 
as  easy  to  send  a  postal  to  Beirut  or  Lahore  as  it  is  to  send 
one  to  the  next  town.  The  problem  is  the  estabhsh- 
ment  of  real  social  contacts.  The  enlargement  of  a 
child's  horizon  might  and  should  be  so  planned  as  to 
embrace  from  the  beginning  the  whole  world  community 
and  to  spread  out  not  so  much  geographically  as  in  the 
kind  and  complexity  of  social  contacts  and  social  prob- 
lems involved  in  human  fellowship.  The  same  kind  of 
problems  of  adjustment  should  be  faced  by  the  six-year- 
old  in  his  relationships  with  immigrants  from  southern 
Italy  as  are  faced  in  his  daily  school  hfe.  As  he  grows 
and  encounters  fresh  problems,  these  enlargements  of 
the  sphere  of  active  social  hving  will  include  his  relations 
with  the  children  and  grown-ups  of  other  places,  together 
with  whom  he  is  gradually  entering  into  the  fulness  of 
the  world's  Hfe. 

One  of  the  enterprises  of  a  first-grade  class  was  the 
preparation  of  a  book  containing  pictures  of  American 
homes  and  public  buildings,  personal  messages,  and  so 


70  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

on,  which  was  to  be  sent  to  some  children  in  China. 
These  Chinese  children  were  just  school  children  Uke 
themselves,  but  they  had  not  seen  America  and  wanted 
to  know  how  American  children  hved.  And  these 
American  children  were  telling  them  in  the  language  of 
pictures  and  by  little  friendly  letters.  Here  was  the 
reality  of  world  brotherhood  in  the  simplest  and  most 
effective  form  —  the  fellowship  of  children. 

Some  Typical  Childhood  Interests.  There  are  a 
few  typical  interests  of  these  childhood  days  that  we 
should  keep  in  mind.  The  indefatigable  investigating 
desire  —  the  insistence  upon  experiencing  and  knowing 
—  this,  when  it  is  not  blunted  by  over-stimulation,  is  a 
constant  source  of  satisfaction  to  the  real  teacher.  This 
inquisitiveness  includes  as  its  objects,  of  course,  the 
things  of  nature:  flowers,  and  stones,  and  bugs.  These 
occupy  a  large  part  of  conscious  attention  if  the  child  has 
access  to  them,  and  without  access  to  them  his  Ufe  in- 
terests are  necessarily  impoverished. 

A  seven-year-old  boy  offered  the  following  exquisite 
prayer  after  a  happy  Thanksgiving : 

"  Dear  God,  we  thank  thee  for  the  creatures  that  swimmeth  in 
the  sea,  for  the  wild  beasts  that  prowleth  in  the  forests,  for  the  flowers 
that  waveth  in  the  breeze,  for  the  bee  that  bringeth  honey,  even 
for  the  fly  that  buzzeth  in  the  summertime;  and  in  the  end  we  thank 
thee  for  our  lovely  Thanksgiving  dinner.    Amen." 

Witness  the  miscellaneous  assortment  of  specimens 
in  a  small  boy's  pocket  and  back  yard.  He  loves  to 
accumulate  little  odd  things,  precious  objects  of  play 
or  of  exchange,  and  will  bargain  the  less  precious  for 
the  coveted  possessions  of  his  neighbors.  This  interest 
in  barter  is  only  beginning,  however,  and  among  city 
children  has  Httle  opportunity  for  proper  expression. 


LITTLE  FELLOWS  SIX  TO  EIGHT  71 

The  puzzle  interest  is  beginning,  and  can  be  made  some 
use  of,  although  the  type  of  puzzle  is  of  course  very- 
simple.  Children  love  to  play  with  words,  to  make  -- 
rhymes  and  simple  puns.  Their  use  of  language  is 
relatively  self-conscious,  and  they  seem  to  take  dehght 
in  the  mere  sound  of  words,  and  to  gather  meanings  from 
the  tone  and  inflection  with  extraordinary  facility. 
They  are  ready  to  see  a  story  in  almost  anything,  whether  - 
a  picture  or  a  piece  of  music,  and  love  to  act  out  the 
events,  taking  parts  unconsciously  so  far  as  action  is 
concerned,  and  vividly  representing,  with  the  help  of 
literal  symbolism,  almost  any  sort  of  narrative.  A 
second-grade  class  dramatized  on  the  spur  of  the  mo-^ 
ment  an  animal  story  which  included  the  personifying 
of  animals,  trees,  flowers  and  insects.  The  children  had 
no  hesitation  in  being  a  tree  or  a  toadstool  or  a  squirrel 
and  behaved  in  the  appropriate  manner.  There  is  - 
considerable  evidence  that  this  dramatizing  process 
goes  on  even  though  the  children  merely  Usten  to  a  story. 
They  readily  put  themselves  in  the  places  of  the  char- 
acters and  sympathetically  experience  what  they  experi- 
ence. An  imaginary  letter  from  an  Armenian  orphan 
was  read  in  a  service  of  worship  telling  how  the  little  girl 
lived  without  any  home,  hunting  for  food,  and  exposed 
to  cold  and  danger.  When  asked  afterward,  *'  How  did 
you  feel  when  you  heard  the  letter?  "  a  httle  eight- 
year-old  boy  said,  "  I  felt  just  as  though  it  all  was  hap- 
pening to  me." 

They  do  not  easily  express  themselves  spontaneously 
in  spoken  words,  however,  and  spontaneous  representa- 
tion must,  therefore,  depend  on  action  for  its  effect. 
But  they  take  great  pleasure  in  saying  things  they  have 
learned,   particularly  if  they  are  strongly  rhythmical. 


72  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

I  have  seen  a  seven-year-old  break  right  into  the  class 
work  by  the  first  line  of  "It  was  the  night  before 
Christmas,"  and  immediately  the  whole  class  was 
stampeded  into  a  choral  chanting  of  the  whole  poem. 
Nothing  could  have  stopped  them  but  violence. 

Religious  Behavior  and  Religious  Needs.  In 
what  does  the  rehgious  life  of  these  httle  fellows  consist 
and  how  can  normal  growth  in  the  rehgious  Hfe  be 
promoted? 

We  have  to  ask  here,  as  at  all  stages  of  growth,  What 
sort  of  purposes  can  they  form  and  carry  out?  What 
habits  and  what  insight  into  social  action  do  they  require 
to  make  the  purposes  they  do  form  effective?  What  is 
the  nature  of  a  childish  ideal  and  how  can  children  be 
helped  to  put  value  upon  ever  higher  and  higher  ideals? 

The  children  are  moving  in  a  realm  of  relatively  simple 
human  relationships  as  we  saw  above.  Their  rehgious 
life  must  concern  these  relationships.  Their  major 
interests  include  fun  and  helpfulness  and  curiosity. 
Rehgion  must  have  something  to  say  about  good  times 
and  friendship  and  the  pursuit  of  knowledge.  The 
Christian  standards  of  sportsmanship  and  brotherhood 
and  truthfulness  must  become  the  children's  standards, 
and  these  must  be  in  a  form  sufficiently  concrete  for 
them  to  grasp  and  apply.  They  must  discover  their 
freedom  and  joy  in  cooperation,  not  in  selfishness ;  and 
in  their  cooperation,  not  in  their  isolation,  they  should 
find  fellowship  with  God.  The  conditions  of  this 
fellowship  are  the  same  as  for  the  Beginner,  but  God  will 
mean  more  and  more  to  the  growing  child  as  the  child's 
experience  grows  and  this  insight  into  the  meaning  of 
a  father's  (or,  it  may  be,  a  teacher's)  love  is  given 
definiteness. 


LITTLE  FELLOWS  SIX  TO  EIGHT  73 

Prayers  of  Childhood.  A  magnificent  opportunity 
for  securing  religious  organization  is  afforded  in  the  bed- 
time prayers  of  childhood;  but  how  often  is  this  neg- 
lected! We  saw  in  the  last  chapter  one  instance  of 
effective  prayer.  Children  are  not  learned  in  the  wiles 
of  the  world.  Most  of  them  are  not  capable  of  maintain- 
ing permanently  a  calm  exterior  over  a  memory  stored 
with  explosive  regrets.  They  desire  moral  fellowship, 
and  this  they  know  can  be  preserved  only  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  frank  sincerity.  Many  a  child's  soul  is  saved 
by  a  parent's  thoughtful  sympathy  in  encouraging  the 
confession  of  misdeeds  and  in  giving  assurance  of  a  re- 
stored fellowship  with  God.  Little  assurance  need  be 
given,  for  the  child  finds  in  his  own  peace  of  mind  the 
secret  of  the  answering  of  prayer.  ^ 

Securing  the  Control  of  Acts  by  Christian  Ideals 
and  Motives.  What  is  then  the  form  of  the  mental 
process  called  religious  in  early  childhood?  In  general, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  process  is  a  movement  within  the 
impulses  and  desires  of  fife  by  which  these  are  criticized 
and  revalued  and  constantly  reorganized  in  terms  of,  or 
under  the  dominance  of,  some  supreme  motive.  As  the 
child  grows,  this  criticism  is  made  more  and  more 
independently,  by  the  use  of  standards  which  are  more 
and  more  abstract  in  their  form.  The  dominant  and 
organizing  principle  is  gradually  more  perfectly  defined 
in  terms  of  a  life  purpose.  In  early  childhood  neither 
abstract  standards  nor  an  intelhgent  life  purpose  is 
possible.  The  standards  by  which  conduct  is  judged 
are  necessarily  concrete  examples  of  conduct  or  simple 
rules  or  propositions  which  define  conduct  in  terms  of 

^An  interesting  instance  of  this  desire  for  harmony  of  mind  is  seen  in  a  story 
quoted  in  Case  18,  App.  I,  which  see. 


74  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

deeds  rather  than  in  terms  of  qualities  or  principles. 
The  meaning  of  the  term  "  justice  "  for  example  cannot 
be  grasped  by  the  average  child  of  seven  or  eight  except 
as  another  name  for  a  particular  kind  of  act,  such  as 
giving  back  a  stolen  knife.  But  these  just  deeds  are  of 
great  interest  to  them,  and  simple  rules  which  formu- 
late what  they  themselves  have  found  to  be  the  condi- 
tions of  happy  cooperation  are  exceedingly  useful  as 
means  of  self-control. 

The  older  children  in  a  settlement  had  a  council 
through  which  they  participated  in  the  conduct  of  the 
organization.  The  Htter  left  in  the  hall- ways  was  ob- 
jectionable. So  the  council  included  among  the  house 
rules  that  halls  must  be  kept  clean.  But  the  children 
under  eleven  or  twelve  did  not  respond  to  this  ideal  at 
all.  So  another  rule  was  made  saying  that  paper  must 
not  be  left  in  the  halls.  This  worked.  It  described 
the  actual  deed,  rather  than  a  general  purpose. 

The  organized  purposes  of  children  should  therefore 
be  in  terms  of  deeds  and  their  immediate  consequences, 
rather  than  in  the  abstract  terms  of  adult  life.  These  are 
the  first  steps  toward  the  control  of  acts  by  far-seeing 
and  therefore  relatively  general  and  abstract  purposes 
which  require  long  experience  and  a  more  mature  type 
of  mental  action  to  make  them  effective  in  present 
conduct. 

For  the  little  fellows  these  practical  rules  are  a  vital 
factor  in  their  self -organization.  It  is  the  teacher's 
task  to  see  that  the  rules  describe  Christian  types  of 
action  and  are  understood  by  the  children  in  terms  of 
actual  experience.  Little  by  Httle  as  the  child's  ability 
to  grasp  larger  and  larger  relations  grows,  the  rules 
grow  more  general  until  finally  they  are  all  included  under 


LITTLE  FELLOWS  SIX  TO  EIGHT  75 

the  single  great  purpose  and  principle  of  the  Christian 
life,  which  is  love. 

It  is  of  course  essential  that  the  little  rules  and  prov- 
erbs which  children  use  as  means  of  self-control  and  as 
standards  of  action  should  be  their  own.  If  the  teacher 
makes  the  rule  or  gets  it  out  of  a  book  and  expects  the 
children  to  obey  it  because  of  some  superior  authority 
which  she  or  the  book  possesses,  the  rule  will  be  a  means 
of  enslaving,  rather  than  a  means  of  hberating,  the  will. 
What  we  seek  in  rehgion  is  control  from  within.  Con- 
trol from  without  is  the  antithesis  of  rehgion.  The 
process  of  growth  in  rehgion  is  a  process  of  liberation 
from  external  control  and,  at  the  same  time,  of  increase 
in  inner  control. 

Of  recent  years,  in  our  effort  to  gain  freedom  from  the 
external  control,  we  have  sometimes  placed  too  little 
emphasis  on  the  necessity  of  corresponding  self-control. 
The  result  has  frequently  been  the  subjection  of  the 
child  to  his  own  unorganized  desires.  Unless  these 
happen  by  accident  to  be  of  a  social  rather  than 
an  anti-social  color,  the  result  is  the  criminal,  the 
selfish,  the  cranky,  the  dehumanized  man  or  woman. 
Better  far  than  this  is  a  continuation  of  external 
control  which  secures  at  least  the  appearance  of 
goodness. 

This  process  of  making  a  rule  one's  own  is  the  same  as 
for  any  kind  of  action  involving  the  control  of  one's 
own  acts.  The  fact  that  the  problems  we  are  interested 
in  are  problems  of  conduct  in  human  relations  does  not 
reheve  us  of  the  necessity  of  studying  these  relations 
and  our  own  acts.  There  is  a  widespread  fear  lest  this 
direct  approach  to  problems  of  behavior  result  in  some 
kind  of  moral  weakness  or  abnormahty.     Whether  of 


76  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

not  it  does  so  depends  upon  the  motives  that  are 
encouraged. 

As  this  problem  is  discussed  more  fully  in  the  chapters 
on  "  Motives  "  and  "  Character,"  we  can  leave  it  at 
this  point.  Meanwhile,  let  us  not  forget  that  children 
want  to  do  the  right  thing  and  welcome  the  slogan  or 
rule  or  proverb  that  will  help  them  at  the  right  moment 
to  keep  their  impulses  under  control. 

Children  vary  tremendously  in  their  ability  to  control 
their  acts  by  ideas  of  their  consequences,  or  by  rules  or 
principles.  An  impulsive  child  may  be  far  better- 
natured  than  a  thoughtful  child,  and  yet  the  thoughtful 
child  may  overcome  a  selfish  desire  sooner  than  the 
better-natured  child,  because  he  is  so  constructed  that 
he  can  stop  and  weigh  the  consequences  before  he  acts. 
Some  children  can  respond  to  abstract  principles  more 
easily  than  their  elders,  and  others,  of  a  lower  level  of 
intelligence,  never  reach  the  point  where  an  ideal  or 
principle  is  really  understood  or  effective  as  an  organizer 
of  conduct.  The  wise  teacher  must  study  each  child 
and  help  him  to  reach  a  constantly  higher  and  higher 
level  of  self-control,  as  his  abihty  to  analyze  and  general- 
ize increases. 

The  Christian  life  of  these  children  will  be,  therefore, 
living  childhood's  own  life  on  its  highest  level.  The 
Christian  child  will  first  play  fairly,  for  play  is  his 
chief  occupation.  He  will  participate  with  others  in  the 
family  of  God  in  the  Christian  enterprise,  in  its  several 
aspects,  including  worship  and  friendship,  relief,  and 
social  reconstruction,  according  to  his  ability.  He  will 
five  his  own  fife  abundantly  because  he  is  achieving  a 
measure  of  freedom  from  impulsive  caprice,  and  a  fund 
of  purposes  which  direct  his  hfe  into  the  channels  of 


LITTLE  FELLOWS  SIX  TO  EIGHT  77 

social  cooperation  where  the  permanent  satisfactions  of 
life  are  found. 

The  Purpose  of  Christian  Education  for  Early 
Childhood.  Let  us  now  formulate  briefly  the  aims 
of  rehgious  education  for  children  in  the  early  years 
of  childhood. 

1.  To  assist  the  children  to  adjust  themselves  to  their  new  social 
relations  —  in  the  street,  in  school,  etc.  —  in  a  Christian  way  —  that 
is,  in  the  consciousness  that  all  these  persons  with  whom  they  come 
in  touch  are  children  in  God's  family.  The  simple  forms  of  Christian 
friendship  are  already  familiar  to  them  from  their  experience  in  the 
Beginners'  class.  But  we  cannot  assume  that  the  friendly  deed  at 
home  will  be  duphcated  at  school.  These  new  problems  of  adjust- 
ment must  be  consciously  attacked,  so  that  with  the  expanding 
social  contacts  there  will  be  a  like  expansion  of  friendly  deeds  and 
attitudes. 

If  the  children's  own  natural  relations  are  not  expanding,  then  it 
is  a  part  of  our  purpose  also  to  assist  them  into  larger  social  spheres, 
so  as  to  secure  in  experience  the  basis  of  growth  in  Christian  ways  of 
life.  As  rapidly  as  possible  the  child's  consciousness  of  his  own 
hiunanity,  of  his  brotherhood  with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  chil- 
dren and  men  and  women,  must  be  established. 

But  we  do  not  wish  to  limit  the  Christian  principle  of  life  to  per- 
sonal  friendships.  It  is  important  also  that  the  children  should 
participate  in  the  larger  phases  of  the  Christian  program,  such  as  are 
represented  in  the  reUef  of  distress  wherever  found,  and  in  the  en- 
deavor to  make  social  machinery  conform  to  the  Christian  ideal  of 
love  and  justice.  There  is  little  of  this  that  is  within  the  reach  of 
the  Uttle  fellows,  but  the  lack  of  food  in  India,  or  China,  or  Belgium 
is  quite  well  understood  by  them,  and  the  fact  that  some  children 
have  to  go  to  work  and  have  no  time  to  play  or  to  go  to  school  is 
something  they  can  readily  appreciate.  In  the  removal  of  these 
conditions  they  should  therefore  have  a  share.  And  to  help  buy 
milk  for  children  whose  mothers  cannot  afford  it  —  this  is  a  real  bit 
of  Christian  service.    And  so  our  second  purpose  is: 

2.  To  secure  cooperation  in  the  Christian  program  for  the  world. 
But  we  do  not  want  mere  automatism.    All  these  good  deeds 

might  be  present  and  yet  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  thing  be 


78  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

lacking.  Imitation  may  be  the  first  introduction  to  kindness  or 
helpfulness,  but,  as  mere  imitation,  the  deed  lacks  religious  signifi- 
cance.    In  the  third  place  therefore  our  purpose  is: 

3.  To  assist  the  children  to  develop  and  organize  ideals  of  conduct 
in  terms  of  Christian  etiquette  and  concrete  examples  of  Christian 
conduct  which  are  known  as  Christian.     And  finally, 

4.  To  assist  the  children  to  realize  vividly  the  family  of  God,  and  their 
own  relation  to  it. 

Principles  of  Method.  The  particular  methods  and 
material  for  this  work  cannot  be  discussed  here,  but 
certain  general  principles  underlie  our  work,  and  these 
can  be  profitably  stated  at  this  point. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  any  church-school  class  should  be  primarily 
a  cooperating  group.  It  should  have  some  kind  of  common  life. 
The  children  should  be  doing  together  the  things  which  children  like 
to  do  together.  Sharing  in  a  common  pleasure,  and  sharing  gener- 
ously and  fairly  —  this,  as  far  as  it  goes,  is  exactly  what  we  desire  for 
children.  And  in  this  group  life  there  will  be  opportunity  for  the 
practise  of  Christian  etiquette  under  conditions  of  control  by  the 
teacher.  She  will  see  to  it  that  social  situations  arise  in  which 
the  problems  of  adjustment,  of  courtesy,  thoughtfulness,  etc.,  can 
be  squarely  faced  and  be  worked  out  deliberately.  There  will  be 
the  need  of  reflection  here,  and  of  stories  which  reveal  the  desirabil- 
ity of  certain  ways  of  behavior. 

2.  The  home  life  should  offer  a  similar  environment  for  the  child. 
Here,  too,  the  basis  of  the  group  life  should  be  cooperation.  With 
children  of  six,  seven  and  eight  this  is  difficult  to  manage,  as  the 
direction  of  their  contribution  to  the  family  welfare  frequently 
takes  more  time  than  the  doing  of  the  task  would  take.  But  when 
we  come  to  the  point  where  the  family  will  be  recognized  as  funda- 
mentally an  educational  institution,  these  additional  responsibiUties 
on  the  part  of  the  parents  will  not  seem  so  unreasonable  as  they  do 
now. 

One  of  the  ways  in  which  children  can  cooperate  in  the  family  life 
is  by  having  specific  duties  to  perform.  The  five-year-old  can  see 
that  waste  baskets  are  emptied  daily.  The  six-year-old  can  keep 
the  floor  of  the  hall  closet  in  order.    The  seven-year-old  can  help 


LITTLE  FELLOWS  SIX  TO  EIGHT         79 

with  dishes  and  dusting.    The  eight-year-old  can  make  his  or  her  >. 
bed,  keep  the  rest  of  the  hall  closet  in  order,  etc.    All  can  take  care 
of  their  own  toys  and  help  keep  the  rooms  neat.    All  should  have  a 
share  in  the  great  family  decisions.    One  family  I  know  would  not 
think  of  buying  a  piece  of  furniture  without  holding  a  family  council  -» 
in  which  every  child  takes  part.    The  chair  or  table  that  is  pur- 
chased becomes  our  chair  or  table  in  a  new  sense.     More  and  more, 
wise  parents  are  making  definite  budgets,  providing  definite  al-v 
lowances  for  the  children  and  for  themselves.    The  children  keep 
accounts,  purchase  what  they  can  pass  judgment  upon,  save  for 
desired  gifts  or  toys  or  tools,  contribute  through  the  family  purse 
or  through  the  school  or  church  treasury  to  social  betterment  as  far 
as  they  can  understand  the  nature  or  at  least  the  purpose  of  the 
causes. 

3.  They  should  thus  be  led  to  participate  together  in  activities  _ 
that  take  them  outside  of  their  own  group.    Things  are  going  on 
in  the  school  and  in  the  world  in  which  they  should  have  a  part. 
Making  picture  cards  for  sick  children,  sending  pictures  and  toys  . 
to  natives  of  other  lands,  contributing  to  causes  in  which  the  school 

is  interested,  taking  part  with  other  Christians  in  supporting  relief 
work  —  these  are  illustrations  of  forms  of  organized  service  in  which 
the  children  should  be  engaged.  Here  again,  the  teacher  will  have 
to  help  by  providing  much  of  the  material  for  this  cooperation  in 
the  way  of  stories  of  work  done  by  other  children,  stories  of  children 
of  other  lands,  stories  which  stir  the  desire  to  help,  or  which  increase 
admiration  for  others,  or  which  portray  in  concrete  form  the  way 
Christians  do  things  in  the  world. 

These  stories  will  probably  be  organized  in  some  way,  and  so  we 
provide 

4.  A  course  of  study,  or  a  selection  of  human  experiences  that 
are  needed  by  these  children  to  help  them  organize  their  deeds  and 
their  ideas  and  their  attitudes.  These  stories  will  provide  op- 
portunities for  the  exercise  of  moral  judgment,  distinguishing  be- 
tween different  kinds  of  deeds  and  their  various  consequences. 
They  will  help  the  children  to  see  their  own  experience  in  the  deeds 
of  others  and  will  make  attractive  to  them  certain  ways  of  behavior  - 
which  otherwise  would  not  be  emphasized  or  promoted.  And  this 
aspect  of  the  work  naturally  includes  the  formulation  and  the  learn- 
ing of  practical  slogans  for  the  guidance  of  conduct  and  of  practical 


80  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

standards  for  the  judgment  of  acts.  The  Bible  affords  many- 
examples  of  excellent  slogans,  such  as  ''  He  that  ruleth  his  spirit  is 
greater  than  he  that  taketh  a  city,"  or  the  "  Golden  Rule." 

5.  In  connection  with  the  mastery  of  this  subject  matter,  there 
will  be  appropriate  instructional  activities  to  assist  the  memorizing 
of  verses,  or  the  clarifying  of  ideas,  or  the  practise  of  the  particular 
form  of  cooperation  described.  Picture  pasting  if  properly  done 
has  a  place  in  the  program.  Drawing,  dramatizing  the  story,  singing, 
reciting,  visiting  other  classes  to  tell  about  the  class  work,  discussion, 
and  so  on,  are  themselves  a  basis  for  group  cooperation,  and  also 
effective  means  for  increasing  the  intellectual  grip  upon  the  problem 
at  hand. 

6.  Finally,  there  is  cooperation  in  worship.  This  necessitates 
training  in  the  use  and  understanding  of  the  forms  and  materials  of 
worship  which  are  used.  It  is  exceedingly  important  that  in  this 
significant  Christian  enterprise  the  children  feel  that  they  are  doing 
something  that  all  Christians  do.  If  the  only  worship  they  share  is 
their  own,  their  notion  of  worship  will  be  provincial  and  defective. 
Indeed  they  cannot  worship  as  members  of  God's  family  apart  from 
other  members  of  his  family.  They  learn  by  taking  part  with  those 
who  know  how,  just  as  they  learn  how  to  use  tools.  It  is  part  of 
our  work  therefore  to  have  available  for  these  children  services 
of  worship  with  older  children  and  with  adults  so  that  they  can 
regularly  participate. 

But  they  need  also  the  more  intimate  and  free  fellowship  that  is 
possible  in  class  worship,  and  in  family  worship  and  the  bedside 
prayer.  Naturalness  in  our  conversation  with  God  is  important 
if  God  is  to  be  a  factor  in  the  control  of  conduct.  Reverence  for 
him,  which  so  many  fear  we  shall  lose  by  our  emphasis  upon  his 
approachableness,  is  gained  properly  by  attention  to  his  character 
and  purpose,  rather  than  by  attention  to  his  physical  power  or  his 
enthronement  among  the  stars. 

Each  class  session  should  include  its  own  worship,  its  own  recogni- 
tion of  the  presence  of  God  and  its  own  constant  emphasis  on  God's 
goodness  and  nearness,  and  on  the  reality  of  a  sonship  which  makes 
God  depend  upon  his  children  for  the  carrying  out  of  his  desire. 


LITTLE  FELLOWS  SIX  TO  EIGHT         81 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

1.  Examine  the  hymns  used  by  the  children  in  your  Primary 
Department.  Are  the  words  of  a  character  to  promote  Christian 
growth?    In  what  particulars? 

2.  In  what  cooperative  activities  do  the  children  in  your  (or 
some  other)  school  engage,  and  with  whom  are  they  associated  in 
these  common  enterprises?  Are  these  enterprises  Christian  in 
character,  that  is,  are  they  efforts  at  the  increase  of  love  and  justice 
in  any  particular  sphere  or  relation? 

3.  What  instinctive  tendency  is  common  to  Cases  20-22  in 
Appendix  I?    In  what  respects  are  Cases  23  and  24  alike? 

4.  What  sorts  of  conduct  characteristic  of  children  between  six 
and  nine  do  you  think  should  be  changed?  What  sort  of  conduct 
have  you  observed  that  is  on  the  Christian  level? 


CHAPTER  VI 

LIKENESSES  AND  DIFFERENCES 
Some  Facts  and  Laws 

In  our  study  and  observation  we  have  all  noticed  that 
no  two  children,  even  twins,  are  alike.  Are  there  any 
laws  in  accordance  with  which  likenesses  and  differences 
occur?  Before  proceeding  further  with  our  analysis  of 
children,  let  us  note  some  facts  and  formulate  some  laws 
that  will  be  of  service  in  our  further  observation. 

Twins  resemble  one  another  more  completely  and  in 
more  particulars  than  siblings,  or  children  of  the  same 
parents  who  are  not  twins.  And  siblings  are  apt  to  be 
more  ahke  in  more  ways  than  children  of  different  fami- 
lies. If  children  were  all  ahke,  our  work  as  teachers  and 
parents  would  be  relatively  easy  and  uninteresting.  The 
extraordinary  surprises,  the  endless  variety,  the  obstinate 
refusal  of  any  child  to  come  within  the  text-book  defini- 
tion, or  indeed  within  the  scope  of  our  own  experience, 
these  are  what  challenge  our  interest  and  urge  us  on  to 
the  discovery  of  the  new  law  which  will  include  this  new 
species  of  conduct,  only  to  find  that  the  very  next  young- 
ster we  see  thoughtlessly  contradicts  our  rule.  And  the 
differences  we  find  in  the  same  child  from  day  to  day, 
indeed  from  moment  to  moment,  are  almost  as  per- 
plexing as  those  we  find  among  different  children.  "  What 
is  that  boy  going  to  do  next?  "  is  a  question  that  is  never 
completely  answered  until  he  does  it.  Then  we  know 
what  he  was  going  to  do  next,  and  so  does  he. 

82 


LIKENESSES  AND  DIFFERENCES  83 

The  Laws  of  Behavior.  One  of  our  troubles  is  that 
we  are  looking  for  the  wrong  kind  of  a  law.  We  are 
looking  for  some  kind  of  statement  which  will  apply 
equally  well  to  every  single  case.  We  want  too  much. 
We  are  contented  enough  with  the  statement,  "  wood 
burns  "  ;  and  yet  we  know  that  under  some  conditions 
wood  does  not  burn,  for  example,  when  we  want  to  make 
a  fire  in  the  open  on  a  wet  day.  The  complete  state- 
ment would  include  a  qualification  of  the  proposition, 
such  as,  "  dry  wood  burns,"  or,  "  wood  bums  when  the 
temperature  rises  to  a  certain  degree,  the  combustion 
degree  varying  with  kinds  of  wood,  stages  of  greenness, 
etc."  Iron  burns,  too,  if  it  is  hot  enough,  but  we  don't 
bother  our  heads  much  about  that  fact.  We  use  it  as 
though  it  did  not  burn,  because  we  know  that  for  our 
practical  purposes,  under  the  conditions  we  are  Ukely 
to  meet,  iron  won't  be  so  obstreperous. 

A  law  is  useful  to  the  extent  that  it  enables  us  to  predict 
what  is  Hkely  to  happen  under  ordinary  conditions,  even 
if  it  does  not  enable  us  to  predict  what  will  happen  under 
every  possible  condition.  If  we  can  go  further,  and  say 
that  something  is  or  is  not  Hkely  to  happen  in  so  many 
cases  out  of  every  hundred,  our  law  will  be  still  more 
useful.  If  we  could  know,  for  example,  that  seven  four- 
year-olds  in  ten  are  afraid  when  left  alone  in  the  dark, 
our  prediction  would  be  more  reliable  for  any  new  case 
than  if  we  knew  simply  that  some  children  are  afraid 
in  the  dark.  Unfortunately,  there  are  very  few  traits 
of  childhood  that  have  been  suflB.ciently  studied  to  war- 
rant any  such  accurate  statement  of  probability,  and 
our  generaUzations  will  have  to  take  the  usual  form. 

What  do  we  know,  then,  about  children  in  general  that 
will  help  us  to  understand  particular  children?    Are 


84  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

there  any  useful  classifications  of  children  or  of  childish 
traits  that  will  enable  us  to  place  a  child  and  so  to  find 
out  more  readily  how  to  treat  him?  Is  there  any 
"  genius  "  of  childhood,  any  key  to  its  mysteries,  any 
wand  or  symbol  that  can  disperse  the  mists  of  age  that 
hide  from  our  view 

"    .     .    .    boyhood's  time  of  June, 
Crowding  years  in  one  brief  moon  "  ? 

The  Marks  of  Childhood 

The  two  aspects  of  childhood  which  we  are  most  prone 
to  forget  and  yet  which  it  is  most  necessary  for  us  as 
teachers  to  keep  constantly  in  mind  are  these  —  obvious 
enough  when  we  stop  to  think  about  it :  inexperience  and 
potentiality. 

Children  Differ  from  One  Another  in  Experience 
partly,  of  course,  because  children  are  not  all  of  the  same 
age,  partly  because  they  live  under  different  conditions, 
and  partly  because  they  are  by  nature  equipped  to  be- 
have differently  and  so  to  gain  various  experiences.  But 
the  fact  remains  that  experience  must  grow.  It  cannot 
be  gained  at  one  stroke  in  toto.  All  children  are  moving 
from  a  stage  of  relatively  simple  experience  to  a  stage  of 
relatively  complex  experience.  The  meanings  of  things 
that  depend  on  having  had  certain  experiences  are  non- 
existent for  the  child  who  has  not  had  those  experiences. 
If  a  child  who  had  never  come  into  contact  with  the  heat 
of  a  flame  were  told  that  the  flame  would  burn  him  if  he 
should  touch  it,  he  could  have  no  idea  what  "  burned  " 
means.  If  he  dechned  to  touch  it,  it  would  be  out  of 
regard  for  the  person  who  told  him  not  to,  or  because  he 
feared  punishment.  It  would  not  be  because  of  any- 
thing the  fire  might  do  to  him,  for  of  that  he  knows  noth- 


LIKENESSES  AND  DIFFERENCES  85 

ing.  Listen  for  a  few  minutes  to  the  questions  of  a  nine- 
year-old  boy  —  these  are  not  such  puzzlers  as  those  of  a 
four-year-old,  but  they  are  hard  enough  to  answer.  We 
assume  the  presence  of  knowledge  in  children  because  we 
ourselves  have  forgotten  that  we  ever  lacked  it.  Only 
recently  I  heard  a  small  boy  of  nine  ask,  as  he  looked  at  a 
stretch  of  water,  *'  What  makes  the  waves  come  in,  the 
wind?  "  And  he  was  brought  up  where  waves  were  a 
common  sight.  What  would  a  poor  fellow  know  about 
waves  who  had  never  seen  or  felt  any?  Few  city  chil- 
dren have  ever  seen  a  flock  of  sheep  or  even  one  of  the 
species.  Practically  none  have  ever  seen  a  shepherd  of 
the  East  care  for  his  sheep,  and  none  but  the  natives  of 
Syria  have  actually  experienced  the  search  for  pasturage, 
the  dangers  of  the  lonely  mountains,  the  evening  cor- 
raling  of  the  flock.  By  what  magic  is  the  city  child, 
then,  to  understand  the  twenty-third  Psalm?  This,  for 
its  literalism  —  and  as  for  its  symbolism  of  the  deeper 
experiences  that  come  with  maturity,  of  this  the  child  is 
fortunately  unaware. 

Wise  indeed  is  the  teacher  or  parent  who  can  walk 
surefooted  in  the  paths  of  childhood.  It  is  easier  far 
to  gain  experience  than  it  is  to  lose  it  or  to  cast  it  off, 
once  gained.  Indeed,  that  cannot  be  done.  We  can 
recall  dimly  what  it  was  to  be  a  child,  but  no  one  really 
remembers  himself,  his  original  and  virgin  experiences 
with  the  world  of  things  and  people.  What  he  re- 
members is  his  previous  memory  of  these  originals,  and 
with  each  recollection  there  are  inevitable  alterations  in 
the  pictures  that  creep  in  because  of  later  experiences. 
-■Vividness  of  recollection  does  not  guarantee  accuracy. 
*How  vividly  we  recall  things  which  never  happened! 

Gifted  with  sympathetic  insight,  we  can  imagine  the 


86  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

child's  world,  however.  But  if  this  imaginary  world  is 
to  resemble  the  reality  and  not  be  constructed  simply  of 
beautiful  symbolic  pictures  of  sweet  innocence,  it  must 
be  based  on  our  experience  of  children.  We  must 
observe,  observe,  observe!  and  mull  over  our  observa- 
tion, until  it  is  as  natural  for  us  to  think  in  terms  of 
childhood  experience  as  it  is  for  a  veteran  motorist  to 
follow  the  freaks  and  fancies  of  a  gasoHne  engine. 

The  Second  Mark  of  Childhood  is  Its  Potenti- 
ality. This  in  two  senses.  On  the  one  hand  the  child 
is  not  a  small  specimen  of  a  man  or  woman.  The  de- 
sires and  passions,  the  ideals  and  temptations  of  maturity 
are  not  there.  The  child  is  a  different  sort  of  person 
altogether.  But  his  difference  has  a  pecuUar  quaHty 
that  distinguishes  it  from  the  dog's  difference  from  the 
mature  human  being.  The  child  will  become  the  man, 
the  dog  will  not.  As  Professor  Coe  has  so  aptly  said, 
the  child  is  a  ^'  candidate  for  personaUty." 

Of  the  way  in  which  the  new  capacities  characteristic 
of  maturity  appear,  one  by  one,  as  the  child  grows,  more 
will  be  seen  later.  What  we  need  to  remember  now  is 
that  the  child  does  not  grow  up  all  at  once,  and  that  he 
does  really  grow.  Time  is  a  wonderful  physician  for 
many  ills  of  body  and  soul,  since,  if  given  time,  the 
physical  and  spiritual  resources  of  the  individual  will 
have  opportunity  to  develop. 

A  youngster  of  four  is  rebellious  and  "  naughty," 
braving  parental  wrath  in  the  delight  of  disobedience  or 
of  ''  wilfulness."  One  such  sat  all  morning  in  his  chair 
rather  than  eat  his  oatmeal  as  his  mother  requested  him 
to  do.  He  was  experimenting  with  his  environment, 
trying  to  bend  it  to  his  own  fancy.  Appetite,  more  in- 
sistent than  fancy,  finally  demanded  its  right,  and  the 


LIKENESSES  AND  DIFFERENCES  87 

conflict  was  at  an  end.  The  child  ate  the  oatmeal  and 
was  "  himself  "  once  more.  A  punishment  so  natural 
as  to  be  no  longer  punishment  but  simply  the  normal 
working  of  the  mechanism  of  life  —  eat  or  starve  — 
furnished  valuable  data  for  the  child's  growing  con- 
sciousness of  self  to  work  upon.  A  few  more  such  ex- 
periments and  a  few  more  weeks  or  months  will  find 
him  as  cooperative  a  member  of  the  family  group  as 
could  be  desired.  But  time  is  needed  for  the  transition, 
time  for  the  growth  from  within  as  well  as  for  the  changes 
wrought  by  experiences  with  the  outer  world. 

The  changes  in  mood  and  behavior  that  accompany 
adolescence  are  too  obvious  to  dwell  upon.  The  power 
of  emotion,  the  social  consciousness,  the  feelings  toward 
the  opposite  sex,  these  are  not  due  simply  to  more  ex- 
perience; they  are  largely  due  to  growth,  inner  changes, 
provided  for  in  the  cell  structure  of  the  individual,  just 
as  the  tree  is  provided  for  in  the  seed. 

We  must  be  content  to  wait  for  much  that  we  desire 
in  the  way  of  character  until  body  and  mind  are  ripened 
by  experience  and  growth. 

Individual  Differences 

So  much  for  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  child- 
hood, inexperience  and  potentiality.  The  other  quali- 
ties that  we  Uke  to  associate  with  the  youth  of  the  race — 
humility,  wonder,  faith,  loyalty  —  what  are  these  but 
the  operation  of  the  child's  Hmited  powers  in  a  world  of 
which  he  has  had  little  experience?  Fortunate  indeed 
it  is  that  the  baby  is  born  unequipped  and  also  inex- 
perienced. If  he  came  to  us  with  the  power  of  an  adult, 
but  with  no  experience  of  the  world,  or  with  the  capaci- 
ties of  a  baby,  yet  wise  in  the  ways  of  the  world,  what  a 


88  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

monstrosity  he  would  be!  Since  he  lacks  both  power  and 
experience,  there  is  the  possibility  of  an  infinite  diversity 
of  combinations  of  these  two  variables,  with  the  resulting 
infinite  diversities  of  human  nature. 

The  Causes  of  Variations.  There  are  many  causes 
at  work  tending  to  make  a  child  different  from  some 
children  and  Hke  others.  Besides  the  effects  of  age  or 
growth,  there  are  the  effects  of  experience,  already 
mentioned,  including  all  the  environmental  forces  that 
play  constantly  upon  the  child  —  education,  accidents,- 
health,  the  effect  of  ancestry,  near  and  remote,  and  sex. 
The  fact  that  all  these  causes  are  at  work  at  any  one  time 
in  producing  and  modifying  any  given  trait  makes  it 
exceedingly  difficult  to  assign  to  any  one  cause  its  due 
proportion  of  effectiveness.  Many  attempts  have  been 
made,  however,  to  do  this,  and  some  conclusions  are 
being  reached.  Certain  of  these  are  of  interest  to  us  as 
teachers  of  religion. 

Differences  between  Boys  and  Girls.  Certain  of 
these  are  obvious.  We  know,  for  example,  that  girls 
are  more  interested  in  dolls  than  boys  are,  whereas 
boys  Hke  rough-and-tumble  fights  more  than  girls  do. 
Girls  are  more  sensitive,  as  a  rule,  and  at  the  same  time 
more  amenable  to  control.  Boys  are  stronger  at  certain 
ages,  and  are  outstripped  by  the  girls  in  size  and  some- 
times in  strength  also,  at  other  ages.  The  ''  tomboy  " 
is  an  exception  just  as  the  "  sissy  "is.  It  is  hard  to 
discover  just  what  differences  between  boys  and  girls 
are  due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  boys  and  girls,  and  what 
differences  are  due  to  differences  in  training  and  in  the 
conventions  of  modern  life.  Extensive  studies,  into 
the  details  of  which  we  need  not  go,  seem  to  justify 
these  conclusions : 


LIKENESSES  AND  DIFFERENCES  89 

"  A  child  is,  for  example,  by  being  a  girl  rather  than  a 
boy,  hkely  to  be  more  observant  of  small  visual  details, 
less  often  color-blind,  less  interested  in  things  and  their 
mechanisms,  more  interested  in  people  and  their  feel- 
ings, less  given  to  pursuing,  capturing  and  maltreating 
hving  things,  and  more  given  to  nursing,  comforting 
and  reUeving  them.  It  is  no  accident  that  girls  learn 
to  spell  more  easily,  do  better  relatively  in  Uterature 
than  in  physics,  and  have  driven  men  from  the  profes- 
sion of  nursing/'^ 

In  any  group  of  girls  and  boys,  or  in  a  class  of  girls  as 
compared  with  a  class  of  boys,  the  girls  will  tend  to  be 
more  aUke  than  the  boys.  One  is  not  apt  to  find  either 
such  dulness  or  such  brightness  among  them,  and  in 
almost  every  other  particular  the  differences  among 
the  boys  will  be  greater  than  the  differences  among  the 
girls.  This  is  of  minor  importance  educationally  and 
does  not  particularly  affect  one's  methods  of  teaching. 
It  helps  to  explain  some  of  the  puzzling  facts  of  hfe, 
however,  as,  for  example,  the  greater  frequency  of 
genius  and  of  imbecility  among  men  than  among 
women.  There  are  relatively  more  men  leaders,  both 
in  science  and  rehgion,  than  there  are  women  leaders. 

But  this  need  not  discourage  the  women,  for  it  does 
not  follow  that  girls  are  therefore  as  a  class  inferior  to 
boys.  On  the  contrary,  there  are  as  many  traits  in 
which  the  general  average  is  higher  for  girls  than  for 
boys  as  the  reverse.  According  to  a  study  made  by 
Karl  Pearson,^  boys  tend  to  be  more  athletic  and  noisy, 
less  shy,  yet  more  self-conscious,  less  conscientious  and 
more   quick   tempered.    These   differences   are   sUght, 

i  Thorndike,  E.  L.,  Education,  p.  68. 

»  Quoted  by  Thorndike,  Educational  Psychology,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  197-8.  Cf.  also 
pp. 262-3. 


90  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

however,  and  are  not  so  important  and  far-reaching  as 
differences  in  certain  elemental  instincts,  the  operation 
of  which  leads  to  the  differences  mentioned  and  to  many- 
others  as  well.  These  are  the  fighting  instinct  and  the 
parental  instinct.  Both  sexes  have  both,  but  boys  are 
better  fighters  and  the  girls  are  better  mothers. 

Other  differences,  such  as  those  mentioned  in  the 
following  quotation,^  are  perhaps  chiefly  due  to  the 
more  fundamental  biological  differences  just  named: 

"  In  detail  the  exact  measurements  of  intellectual 
abihties  show  a  sHght  superiority  of  the  women  in  recep- 
tivity and  memory,  and  a  sHght  superiority  of  the  men 
in  control  of  movement  and  in  thought  about  mechanical 
situations.  .  .  .  They  (men)  excel  in  muscular  tests, 
in  abihty  to  '  spurt,'  whereas  women  do  better  in  en- 
durance tests." 

Differences  Due  to  Race.  Of  more  interest  are 
differences  among  individuals  which  are  due  to  other 
causes  than  sex.  There  is  a  wide  divergence  of  opinion 
as  to  the  effect  of  race  on  a  person's  mental  make-up 
and  capacity.  Between  the  lowest  and  highest  races 
the  gap  is  clear,  but  among  men  of  highly  developed 
races,  the  differences  are  not  so  obvious.  "  My  own 
estimate,"  says  Thorndike,^  "  is  that  greater  differences 
will  be  found  in  the  case  of  the  so-called  *  higher  ' 
traits,  such  as  the  capacity  to  associate  and  to  analyze, 
thinking  with  parts  or  elements  and  originality,  than  in 
the  case  of  the  sensory  and  sensori-motor  traits,  but 
that  there  will  still  be  very  great  overlapping  —  the 
differences  in  original  nature  within  the  same  race  are, 
except  in  extreme  cases,  many  times  as  great  as  the 

*  Strayer  and  Norsworthy,  How  to  Teach,  p.  153. 
*0p.  cit.,  p.  224. 


LIKENESSES  AND  DIFFERENCES  91 

differences  between  races  as  wholes."  The  history  of 
achievement  by  foreign  students  in  our  own  colleges 
and  universities  should  give  pause  to  any  tendency  to 
regard  all  who  Hve  outside  of  our  own  land  as  inferior. 
There  are  more  relatively  dull  persons  and  fewer  rela- 
tively brilliant  among  some  races  than  among  others, 
but  there  are  plenty  of  ordinary  folks  among  them  all 
who  are  of  similar  intelUgence  and  who  constitute  the 
basic  material  of  the  world  fellowship,  which  shall  be 
willing  to  make  use  of  intellectual  leadership  wherever 
found,  and  which  shall  devote  itself  to  the  elimination  of 
the  inferior  as  rapidly  as  is  consistent  with  common 
humanity. 

Differences  Due  to  Family.  One's  own  immediate 
family  stock  is  of  more  significance  than  his  racial  stock 
in  determining  his  place  among  his  fellows.  But  his 
family  stock  is  complex,  and,  apart  from  occasional 
reversions  to  an  old  type,  the  observable  influences  seem 
to  be  exerted  mostly  by  parents.  The  effect  of  this 
influence  is  not  to  make  children  dupUcates  of  their 
parents,  but  to  make  them  vary  from  the  general  human 
average  in  the  same  direction  as  their  parents  do. 

It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  eliminate  entirely 
other  influences  than  those  of  family,  such  as  training, 
when  measuring  resemblances  and  differences,  except 
in  the  case  of  physical  characteristics  not  affected  by 
training.  The  composition  —  the  quahty  —  of  the  brain 
is  one  of  these  inborn  physical  characteristics  not  affected 
by  training.  A  child's  destiny,  so  far  as  his  upper  and 
lower  limits  of  development  are  concerned,  is  fixed  by 
nature.  The  point  in  between  this  lowest  and  highest 
possibility  which  the  individual  reaches  is  determined 
chiefly  by  training. 


92  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

How  specific  the  resemblances  to  parents  are  in  emo- 
tional types,  morality,  and  so  on,  is  not  clearly  known. 
Children  of  the  same  parents  and  the  same  upbringing 
certainly  vary  tremendously  in  mental  characteristics; 
but  in  any  specific  trait,  it  is  fair  to  say  that  a  child  is 
more  Ukely  to  resemble  his  own  parents  and  his  own 
brothers  and  sisters  than  some  one  else's  parents  or  chil- 
dren of  these  other  parents.  These  resembling  tendencies, 
however,  are  subject  to  changes,  and,  save  as  limits,  do 
not  determine  the  individual's  growth. 

Differences  Due  to  Experience.  Training  is  more 
significant  in  settling  a  child's  future  than  is  his  ancestry. 
It  cannot  raise  him  above  his  inherited  limitations, 
however.  The  dull  boy  will  never  overtake  the  bright 
boy,  for  the  bright  boy  goes  faster.  As  each  generation 
grows  up,  those  naturally  well  equipped  forge  ahead, 
and  those  ill  equipped  get  further  and  further  behind. 
The  ill  equipped  make  progress,  but  their  progress  is 
absolute,  not  relative;  and  their  general  status  in  society, 
so  far  as  intellectual  attainments  are  concerned,  remains 
the  same. 

To  pit  one  child  against  another  may  spur  both  to 
action,  but  if  one  is  much  superior  in  native  ability  to 
the  other,  it  is  cruel  to  subject  the  latter  to  the  certain 
humiliation  of  defeat.  Better  far  would  it  be  to  pit 
him  against  his  own  record,  and  to  encourage  satisfac- 
tion in  absolute  progress.  The  feeling  of  superiority 
that  results  from  surpassing  the  inferior  gives  the  bright 
boy  a  false  sense  of  progress  and  an  insufferable  pride 
that  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  overcome. 

But  any  trait  can  be  improved  with  training.  How 
much  of  this  improvement  is  due  to  sheer  growth  and 
how   much   to   educational   influences   is   not    known. 


LIKENESSES  AND  DIFFERENCES  93 

Some  children  of  nine  are  intellectually  superior  to  some 
of  eighteen.  Yet  growth  is  certainly  a  factor  in  mental 
development.  Changes  in  brain  structure  take  place 
which  make  possible  more  and  more  complex  associa- 
tions. New  desires  arise  which  affect  the  direction  of 
interest  and  attention,  and,  in  turn,  these  new  interests 
affect  achievement.  Without  the  stimulus  of  the  en- 
vironment, however,  these  new  interests  might  never 
be  called  into  effect,  and  certainly  the  nature  of  the  en- 
vironment determines  largely  the  specific  forms  which 
instinctive  interests  will  take,  and  the  specific  materials 
on  which  the  mind  will  work. 

The  particular  conventions,  the  habits  and  ideas  of 
social  life,  which  constitute  the  machinery  of  morality  — 
all  these  are  learned.  No  child  is  born  with  habits  or 
ideas  of  any  sort.  All  these  he  gets  from  his  environ- 
ment, and  these  constitute  at  once  his  freedom  and  his 
bondage.  How  far  he  will  transcend  these  environ- 
mental limitations  or  how  completely  he  will  be  subject 
to  them  depends  largely  on  his  native  capacity,  and  this 
in  turn  is  the  gift  of  race  and  family,  plus  the  unac- 
counted-for variation  upward  or  downward  that  he  him- 
self exhibits  as  an  altogether  new  specimen  of  human 
life. 

The  Necessity  of  Recognizing  Differences.  It 
is  important  for  us  as  teachers  of  reUgion  to  recognize 
both  the  possibilities  and  the  limitations  of  our  pupils. 
We  know  that  all  except  some  of  the  defectives  can  be- 
come conventionally  moral  by  training  —  but  not  with- 
out training.  We  know  that  most  can  become,  not 
only  conventionally  moral,  but  independently  moral, 
acquiring  standards  and  principles  of  conduct  through 
their  own  critical  study  of  human  life.    This,  too,  re- 


94  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

quires  training.  And  we  know  that  a  few  will  not  only 
be  independent  but  prophetic,  born  leaders  of  men  and 
architects  of  the  new  social  order. 

Who  knows  whether  such  a  potential  prophet  may  not 
be  in  his  own  class?  The  leaders  of  tomorrow  are  now 
in  training  somewhere,  and  whether  or  not  they  will  be 
leaders  in  crime  or  leaders  in  progress  depends  upon 
what  is  happening  to  them  now.  And  the  world  is 
waiting  for  the  issue.  It  is  as  teachers  of  the  future 
leaders  of  the  church  that  we  have  our  greatest  re- 
sponsibility and  our  greatest  opportunity. 

Miscellaneous  Dififerences.  A  word  should  be 
said  finally  about  other  sorts  of  differences  than  those 
mentioned  above,  differences  which  do  not  materially 
affect  one's  leadership  or  one's  morality,  but  which  do 
affect  our  method  of  teaching.  These  differences  con- 
cern the  form  of  one's  mental  life.  They  are  primarily 
differences  in  types  of  interest.  The  causes  of  these 
varieties  in  interest  lie  back  in  ancestry,  sex  and  experi- 
ence. There  is,  for  example,  the  practical,  common- 
sense  child,  as  contrasted  with  the  fanciful  dreamer. 
These  find  it  hard  to  understand  one  another.  One  is 
interested  mostly  in  his  own  thought  process ;  the  other, 
in  what  is  going  on  around  him.  Some  children  enjoy 
getting  away  from  concrete  things  and  working  with 
intellectual  symbols.  Others  prefer  to  work  directly 
with  objects.  Some  children  are  constantly  reflecting, 
valuing,  "  sizing  up."  Others  rarely  "  stop  to  think," 
but  just  plunge  ahead,  reckless  of  consequences.  Some 
enjoy  the  sense  of  power  that  comes  from  managing 
people.  Others  confine  their  attention  to  the  control  of 
things.  Some  are  delicate  and  discriminating  in  their 
appreciation  and  sympathies.     Others  are  coarse  and 


LIKENESSES  AND  DIFFERENCES  95 

blunt  and  hard  to  move.  Some  are  easily  led,  amenable 
to  suggestion.     Others  are  independent. 

Frequently  these  differences  and  their  numerous 
combinations  are  characteristic  of  the  same  child  at 
different  times.  He  has  his  fancy-free  moods  and  his 
common-sense  moods;  his  thoughtful  moods  and  his 
reckless  moods;  his  moments  of  interest  in  things  and 
his  moments  of  interest  in  abstractions;  sometimes  he 
is  the  philosopher,  sometimes  the  poet,  sometimes  the 
scientist,  or  the  moraHst. 

It  is  helpful  to  recognize  these  varying  moods  or  types 
of  behavior,  for  they  represent  in  any  case  a  fairly  con- 
stant set  of  phenomena.  We  soon  learn  what  to  expect 
from  the  fanciful  child  or  the  fanciful  mood,  and  can 
anticipate  the  actions  of  the  practical  child  or  the  practi- 
cal mood.  To  name  a  thing  is  in  part  to  control  it,  for 
the  name  affords  a  basis  for  the  organization  of  ideas. 
As  we  gather  our  data,  therefore,  it  might  be  wise  to 
record  not  only  the  situation  and  the  child's  response, 
but  also  the  child's  dominant  type  of  interest,  if  known, 
or  what  seems  to  be  his  immediate  mood,  if  that  is 
known,  giving  the  evidence  for  the  judgment  expressed. 
We  shall  soon  find  that  as  teachers  we  shall  have  to 
counterbalance  these  dominant  tendencies  with  the 
encouragement  of  their  opposites,  if  we  are  to  develop 
well  rounded  personalities,  sensitive,  yet  not  weak; 
aggressive,  but  not  overbearing;  leaders,  but  not  bullies; 
thoughtful,  but  not  cowardly;  courageous,  but  not  reck- 
less; rich  in  fancy,  but  not  unbalanced. 


96  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

1.  The  stories  quoted  in  Appendix  I  were  written  by  a  girl  eight 
years  old.  Read  them,  and  make  a  note  of  the  dominant  interests 
that  appear  in  them. 

2.  Ordinarily  children  are  placed  in  the  same  class  in  the  church 
school  because  they  are  of  the  same  age  or  in  the  same  grade  in  day 
school.  Is  this  practise  wise?  Give  detailed  reasons,  and  suggest 
other  possible  ways  of  selecting  children  who  are  to  be  in  the  same 
class. 

3.  What  provision  do  you  make,  or  have  you  seen  made,  in 
church-school  assignments,  for  differences  among  the  pupils  in 
ability  or  interest? 

4.  Those  who  are  interested  in  further  study  of  individual  differ- 
ences will  find  any  of  the  following  books  by  E.  L.  Thorndike  of 
great  help : 

Individuality. 
Education,  Chapter  IV. 

Educational  Psychology,  Briefer  Course,  Part  III. 
.^Educational  Psychology,  Volume  III. 


CHAPTER  VII 

BOYS  AND  GIRLS 

The  Religious  Life  of  Later  Childhood 

Social  Relations.  The  years  from  nine  to  eleven  or 
twelve  are  conspicuous  for  two  changes  in  the  lives  of  the 
boys  and  girls.  First,  they  are  physically  far  more- 
vigorous  and  tough  than  in  early  childhood.  Second, 
they  are  Uving  in  a  vastly  bigger  world.  Home  is  less 
significant  than  it  was,  partly  because  it  absorbs  less  of 
the  children's  time,  and  partly  because  other  interests 
are  growing  which  lead  away  from  home  and  compete 
with  the  home  influences.  Boys  go  off  together,  either 
playing  games  or  exploring  and  foraging.  Girls,  less 
adventurous,  stay  nearer  the  hearthstone,  but  never- 
theless are  much  more  in  the  company  of  other  girls  and 
less  under  the  oversight  of  adults. 

The  teachers  of  children  are  now  largely  of  their  own 
age:  the  children  look  more  to  their  own  group  for  ap- 
proval and  disapproval.  The  codes  of  cooperation  are 
becoming  fairly  well  established,  and  standards  of  con- 
duct are  being  fixed.  Every  man  is  still  for  himself  most 
of  the  time,  but  spontaneous  groups  are  forming  which 
make  demands  upon  the  individual's  loyalty.  The  gangs 
are  rather  flexible  in  membership,  but  they  are  sufficiently 
distinct  in  the  minds  of  the  boys  to  form  the  basis  of  a 
large  part  of  their  activity.  Street  gangs  fight  one 
another  as  groups,  not  as  individuals.  Girls  belong  to 
different  sets,  each  scorning  the  social  standards  of  other 

97 


98  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

sets.  Team-play  is  attempted,  but  the  teams  find  it 
difficult  to  play  without  fighting  over  individual  pref- 
erences, and  as  like  as  not  the  team  evaporates  in  the 
course  of  a  game  or  a  day  or  a  week.  When  representing 
a  larger  institution,  Uke  a  school,  however,  or  under 
competent  leadership,  the  team,  even  of  ten-year-olds, 
tends  to  last  longer,  which  indicates  that  the  years  of 
later  childhood  are  exhibiting  larger  and  larger  capacity 
for  group  action  and  group  loyalty  on  an  ever  widening 
scale. 

Growth  and  Instinctive  Tendencies.  Height  and 
weight  increase  gradually.  The  girls  begin  to  grow 
more  rapidly  before  the  boys  do,  so  that  at  the 
end  of  childhood  and  the  beginning  of  adolescence 
the  boys  seem  much  younger  than  girls  of  the  same 
age.  This  no  doubt  accounts  in  part  for  the  tendency 
of  boys  and  girls  to  hold  one  another  in  apparent 
contempt. 

Significant  instincts  like  fighting  and  the  parental  in- 
stinct are  increasing  in  the  strength  of  their  impulsion. 
The  conditions  of  civilized  Hfe  put  restraints  on  pug- 
nacious behavior  which  sometimes  are  irritating  to  the 
small  boy.  It  is  not  surprising  that  he  breaks  out  oc- 
casionally, either  in  street  fights,  or  in  some  form  of 
bullying  or  teasing.  Rivalry  is  keen  among  both  boys 
and  girls.  They  delight  in  competition  of  any  kind  and 
take  great  pride  in  their  achievements. 

Fortunately,  however,  we  have  a  strong  tendency 
still  present  to  care  for  and  fondle.  Pets  are  universally 
desired  —  anything  alive  —  snakes,  cats,  turtles,  dogs, 
rabbits,  canaries.  How  tender  a  boy  is  with  his  own  dog, 
and  how  proud  of  its  abiHty  to  eat  up  all  the  dogs  in  the 
neighborhood! 


BOYS  AND  GIRLS  99 

Here  is  a  real  incident  which  brings  out  certain  of  these 
boyish  traits. 

"  An  eleven-year-old  boy  tested  us  to  the  limit  by  his  stubborn 
resistance  to  all  control.  He  was  either  bad  or  indifferent  most  of 
the  time.  Sometimes  the  teacher  held  him  by  main  force,  while 
teaching  the  lesson,  or  sent  him  to  the  church-school  superintendent. 
Once  she  sent  him  home. 

It  became  unbearable,  and  in  my  round  of  calls  I  came  to  this 
home.  As  luck  would  have  it  the  boy  came  to  the  door.  His 
face  beamed  as  he  saw  it  was  a  visitor  for  him,  as  well  as  for  mother. 
He  called  his  mother,  grandmother  and  sister,  then  sat  on  the  edge 
of  the  chair  and  listened  for  four  or  five  minutes,  while  we  talked. 
He  finally  ventured  —  "I  have  some  rabbits." 

"  How  many?  "     I  asked. 

"  I  had  the  father  and  mother,  then  seven  little  ones  came,  but 
the  Ginnies  stole  four,  one  died,  and  I  have  two  left." 

"  Oh,  may  I  see  them?  " 

"  Do  you  really  want  to?  " 

"  Why,  yes." 

"  Well,  come  on." 

So  I  followed  through  the  kitchen,  down  the  rickety  back-stairs 
into  the  yard.  There  we  found  the  rabbits.  I  took  up  the  prettiest 
baby  to  fondle  it.  Henry  took  up  the  homeUest  one  and  said,  "  I 
like  this  one  best,  it's  so  homely  and  cuddles  up  close  to  you." 

He  told  me  what  they  ate,  how  they  slept,  showed  me  the  dog 
and  cat,  told  of  two  Httle  white  mice  he  had  had  and  lost,  of  his 
newspaper  route  and  customers,  also  how  easy  it  was  for  him  to  get 
up  in  the  morning. 

By  this  time  we  were  back  up-stairs,  and  the  mother  began  to 
tell  me  how  she  was  not  well  and  that  Henry  helped  her  clean  the 
floor,  wash  the  dishes  and  even  hang  up  clothes. 

He  got  red,  and  uncomfortable,  as  she  talked,  so  got  up  and  said, 
"  Guess  I'll  go  nowl  " 

That  was  the  last  of  Henry  as  a  bad  boy  in  the  church  school, 
for  his  teacher  and  I  talked  it  all  over  and  learned  to  understand. 
Every  Sunday,  however,  he  came  early  so  as  to  come  up  and  talk 
for  a  few  minutes  about  the  rabbits,  etc.,  especially  the  new  baby, 
which  became  his  chief  treasure."^ 

^  Quoted  from  a  student's  observation. 


100  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

Some  one  has  suggested  how  to  get  an  idea  of  the  ex- 
uberant abundance  of  hfe  and  energy  of  the  years  of 
later  childhood.  Think  of  how  you  feel  some  fine  crisp 
morning  after  a  good  night's  rest,  awake  and  ready  for 
the  day's  work.  Then  multiply  your  feeling  of  strength 
and  energy  ten  times.  You  are  ten  times  as  hungry, 
ten  times  as  desirous  of  shouting  and  singing,  ten  times 
as  good  natured,  ten  times  as  full  of  mischief,  ten  times 
as  eager  for  the  next  act.     That  is  the  way  a  boy  feels. 

Here  is  a  letter  written  by  a  boy  of  eleven  years  who 
had  been  sick  in  bed  and  still  had  a  cold.  It  is  addressed 
to  his  father.    Note  his  overflowing  good  spirits. 

"  Professor,  Doctor,  Reverand Esq. 

Hello!    there  —  alright. 

Mother  probably  told  you  that  I  was  sick  in  bed  about  two  weeks 
ago  —  well  I'm  alright  now  except  a  Httle  cold  that  will  soon  be 
gone. 

E.  H.,  R.  D.,  R.  L.,  A.  W.,  B.  Q.,  K.  L.,  D.  McL.,  G.  W.  (each 
name  was  written  in  full)  and  myself  make  up  a  BASEBALL  TEAM 
of  which  I  am  captain.  Spud  H.  is  manager  and  Gordon  assistant 
manager.  We  play  the  Cypress  Street  Team  tomorrow  at  2.30 
o'clock.    H.  M.  isUMP, 

MR.  G .  has  sent  those  stories  about  the  slaves  he  told  us 

about  and  mother  wants  to  read  to  us  now. 

So  solong  old  sport. 

Your  left  hand  man . " 

This  letter  reveals  another  tendency  that  it  is  import- 
ant for  us  to  remember.  Notice  the  interest  in  the  indi- 
viduals with  whom  he  plays.  He  mentioned  them  all 
by  name.  Beginning  now  at  ten  or  eleven,  this  interest 
in  individuals  increases  through  the  early  years  of 
adolescence  till  it  reaches  its  height  in  the  chums  of 
middle  and  later  adolescence.  These  chums,  many  at 
first,  and  becoming  fewer,  are  generally  of  the  same  sex. 


BOYS  AND  GIRlia  }r  ^M'^rMW^. 

But  the  plays  and  games  of  boys  and  girls  do  not  ex- 
clude those  of  the  opposite  sex  by  any  means.  It  is  not 
until  the  latter  part  of  this  period  that  the  problem  of 
cooperation  between  the  sexes  becomes  acute. 

Technical  Skill.  Physical  and  mental  activity  is 
becoming  more  skilful,  and  the  children  take  more  and 
more  dehght  in  proficiency  for  its  own  sake.  Boys  and 
girls  can  make  things  extraordinarily  well.  The  finer 
skills  we  call  technique  are  possible  now  and  appeal  to 
them.  Except  for  the  feehng  that  comes  with  maturity, 
the  boy  or  girl  of  eleven  can  play  the  piano  with  con- 
siderable abiUty,  and  produce  paintings  or  drawings  that 
continually  astonish  us  for  their  sense  of  form.  Artistic 
and  mechanical  abilities  that  had  begun  to  show  them- 
selves earlier  are  now  rapidly  developing.  A  group  of 
boys  at  a  summer  camp  built  an  observation  tower 
twenty  feet  high  in  fifty  minutes,  having  nothing  but 
growing  trees  and  tools  to  work  with.  A  few  directions 
were  given  them  at  the  beginning,  and  then  they  set  to 
and  produced  a  mechanically  perfect  structure  from  raw 
material. 

Writing  is  becoming  easy  and  so  can  be  used  as  a 
ready  means  of  expression.  Reading  is  so  easy  as  to  be 
a  temptation.  Stories  of  an  exciting  and  adventurous 
kind  are  consumed  at  an  alarming  rate  although,  in  this 
as  in  all  other  characteristics,  children  differ  from  one 
another  greatly.  But  they  Hke  books  and  hke  to  own 
them. 

Dramatic  Interests.  In  spite  of  this  increasing 
interest  in  and  grip  upon  language,  however,  they  do  not 
yet  find  discussion  easy,  nor  is  conversation  fluent  except 
in  the  form  of  chatter.  Yet  the  dramatic  sense  is  keen 
and  the  representation  of  stories  is  a  never-ending  source 


4^?  <.*'  'CraLDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

of  pleasure.  With  a  native  genius  for  dramatic  effects 
they  get  up  plays,  make  scenery  and  costumes,  prepare 
speeches  —  and  charge  admission! 

The  following  outline  describes  in  a  boy^s  own  words  a 
play  that  he  and  three  other  children,  one  of  them  a  girl, 
prepared  and  produced  at  a  camp  in  the  woods.  The 
author  was  eleven. 

THE  LAST  STAND 
By  Lynd  Ward 

Cast  of  Characters 
Little  Beaver  Buffalo  Bill 

Showandassee  Jim 

Scene  I 
Time:  Sunset.  Place:  Indian  Camp. 

Showandassee  preparing  evening  meal  when  Little  Beaver  comes 
home  from  hunt  with  deer. 

Showandassee  (without  looking  up)  —  Did  you  get  anything  this 
time? 

Little  Beaver  —  Yes,  I  got  a  deer,  but  it  was  very  hard  to  get  him. 

S. —  My,  he  is  a  big  one! 

L.  B. —  Yes,  he  was  the  biggest  one  I  could  find. 

S. —  Well,  supper  is  ready;  let  us  eat. 

They  have  supper  and  then  go  to  bed. 

Scene  II 
Time:  Next  Morning.  Place:  Cowboy  Camp. 

Jim  —  Say,  Bill,  do  you  suppose  there  are  any  Indians  around 
here? 

Bill  —  Oh,  I  don't  know.     Let  us  go  and  see. 

They  start  off  in  opposite  direction  from  Indian  camp.  During 
their  absence  Little  Beaver  takes  some  spying  in  hand,  finds  out 
their  strength  and  position.  He  then  returns  to  his  camp.  Cow- 
boys return  home  after  fruitless  hunt. 


BOYS  AND  GIRLS  103 

Scene  III 
Time:  Midnight.  Place:  Both  Camps. 

Little  Beaver  creeping  upon  Cowboy  Camp  which  is  fast  asleep. 
By  some  mishap  he  steps  upon  a  dead  twig  and  they  awake.  He 
dodges  behind  a  large  tree  that  is  near  at  hand.  They  see  no  harm, 
and  so  go  back  to  bed.  Little  Beaver  then  returns  to  his  camp  and 
bed. 

Scene  IV 
Time:    Next  Morning.  Place:    Cowboy  Camp. 

The  Cowboys  are  ambushed  on  their  way  home  from  a  hunt  by 
Little  Beaver  and  Showandassee  and  taken  to  the  Indian  Camp  and 
tied  to  a  young  tree. 

Scene  V 
Time:  Near  Midnight.  Place:   Indian  Camp. 

Indians  asleep.  Cowboys  tied  loosely.  After  much  quiet 
squirming  Bill  gets  loose  and  unties  Jim  and  together  they  kill  the 
Indians. 

This  play  consisted  almost  entirely  of  "  business." 
There  was  very  little  speaking.  There  was  no  "  star." 
Several  meals  were  prepared,  eaten  and  cleared  away. 
Each  scene  was  a  unit,  however,  and  the  whole  play 
moved  on  naturally  to  a  dramatic  climax. 

The  next  year,  when  the  author  was  twelve,  he  pre- 
pared another  play  of  which  he  was  the  hero.  He  had 
looked  forward  to  it  all  winter  and  had  saved  up  money 
to  buy  his  costume,  which  was  an  Indian  suit.  In  con- 
nection with  the  play  was  a  long  speech  by  the  hero. 
This  was  never  written  out  and  so  is  not  preserved.  The 
players  chose  a  most  beautiful  spot  for  this  outdoor  pro- 
duction, with  an  eye  for  scenic  effects.  In  the  actual 
production  they  had  the  assistance  of  a  woman  who  had 
had  dramatic  training,  but  as  far  as  possible  she  merely 
assisted  them  in  carrying  out  their  own  ideas. 


104         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

The  interest  in  the  dramatic  takes  another  form  in 
story-writing  and  poetry.  These  stories  and  poems 
throw  considerable  Hght  on  some  of  the  interests  of  later 
childhood.  Turn,  for  example,  to  the  one  printed  in 
Appendix  I. 

Individuality  and  the  Critical  Frame  of  Mind. 
Individual  differences  are  more  conspicuous  as  time  goes 
on,  but  the  variations  are  more  obviously  in  the  direction 
of  the  family  type.  This  is  no  doubt  largely  due  to  the 
Ufe  in  the  family.  But  httle  traits  crop  out  that  assure 
us  that  Jimmy  is  a  chip  of  the  old  block.  But  he  has  a 
mind  of  his  own,  however,  and  is  less  willing  to  be  a  chip. 
He  wants  to  be  a  whole  block.  He  will  no  longer  swal- 
low whole  everything  that  is  told  him.  Long  experience 
with  the  world  has  taught  him  caution  and  increduHty, 
which  easily  becomes  shallow  cynicism.  Childish  fancies 
and  practises  are  now  to  be  put  away.  Unreflecting  and 
universal  doubt  is  the  small  boy's  armor  behind  which 
he  goes  forth  to  combat. 

A  fine-illustration  of  this  growing  independence  of 
thought  and  enjoyment  in  making  decisions  is  seen 
almost  every  year  in  the  sixth  or  seventh  grades  of  a 
certain  school.  It  has  been  the  custom  in  this  school  to 
help  support  a  local  day  nursery.  The  children  also 
contribute  to  this  philanthropy  through  their  day  school, 
so  that  by  the  time  they  are  eleven  or  twelve  it  is  an  old 
story.  It  usually  occurs  to  some  one  in  these  and  sub- 
sequent grades  to  object  to  doing  what  they  have  always 
done.  And  then  ensues  a  debate.  On  one  occasion  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  look  into  the  matter.  On 
this  committee  was  the  boy  who  had  objected  most  to 
continuing  the  contribution.  The  committee  went  to 
the  institution,  saw  for  themselves  what  was  being  done 


BOYS  AND  GIRLS  105 

there  for  the  babies,  and  reported  so  enthusiastically 
about  the  work  that  the  class  had  to  be  advised  not  to 
vote  all  its  accumulated  resources  to  this  one  institution. 
The  boy  who  had  opposed  the  idea  himself  proposed  that 
the  class  give  all  it  had.     All  he  needed  was  to  be  shown. 

In  a  certain  fifth  grade,  stories  from  the  Old  Testament 
are  used,  not  in  a  hteral  way,  but  as  good  and  wholesome 
stories.  The  attention  of  the  children  is  directed  to  the 
values  in  the  story  and  to  their  representation  of  uni- 
versal human  relations.  When  the  story  of  David  and 
GoHath  was  told,  one  boy  piped  up  with,  "  I  do  not  be- 
lieve there  ever  was  a  man  ten  feet  tall."  After  some 
argument  the  class  decided  that  it  did  not  matter 
whether  Goliath  was  ten  feet  tall  or  not ;  anyway,  David 
was  a  brave  man  in  the  presence  of  danger. 

The  Interest  in  Conduct  and  in  tlie  Prowess  of 
Heroes.  One  aspect  of  this  critical  tendency  is  the 
effort  to  form  standards  of  conduct,  to  organize  conduct 
under  acceptable  ideals.  These  acceptable  and  usable 
ideals  cannot  be  too  general  or  absolute.  They  need  to 
be  in  the  form  of  rules  or  customs  or  simply  the  concrete 
acts  of  heroes  who  have  won  their  admiration.  It  is 
not  their  qualities  but  their  deeds  that  appeal  to  the 
responsive  and  alert  minds  of  these  children.  Heroic 
behavior,  prowess,  physical  and  moral,  power  and  skill 
in  all  its  manifold  forms  —  these  are  the  deHght  of  child- 
hood. The  movie  makes  its  appeal  at  this  point.  The 
graphic  exhibition  of  power  and  the  intensely  dramatic 
or  "  rough-house  scenes  "  swiftly  following  upon  one 
another  are  the  very  bread  of  life  to  an  eleven-  or  twelve- 
year-old;  and  these  visualizations  of  conduct  must  in- 
evitably go  far  toward  forming  his  standards  and  sug- 
gesting to  him  his  own  behavior. 


106  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  how  far  movie  heroes 
are  replacing  baseball  heroes  in  the  minds  of  the  boys. 

Competition  and  Cooperation.  We  have  thought 
thus  far  chiefly  of  the  interests  and  capacities  of  the  chil- 
dren. We  should  keep  constantly  in  mind  the  actual 
situations  in  which  they  find  themselves  from  day  to  day, 
the  persons  they  are  with,  and  the  effect  upon  them  of 
these  relations.  An  examination  of  the  schedules  of 
boys  and  girls  will  reveal  an  exceedingly  crowded  day, 
spent  mostly  in  the  company  of  children  of  the  same  age. 
The  characteristic  free  behavior  of  children  with  one 
another  is  a  combination  of  keen  competition  and  cooper- 
ation. Both  are  wholesome.  The  stimulus  of  rivalry 
is  not  to  be  despised.  Seeing  another  do  something 
automatically  makes  a  boy  or  girl  desire  to  excel  in  that 
activity.  And  in  thus  plunging  into  the  combat  and 
the  chase,  the  children  discover  their  own  capacities  and 
Umitations.  It  is  hard  indeed  to  convince  the  small  boy 
that  he  is  beaten.  There  is  no  such  word  as  fail  to  the 
ten-year-old.  Failure  is  an  adolescent  experience.  When 
the  boy  gives  in  he  gives  in  for  poUcy's  sake,  but  his 
spirit  is  not  conquered,  and  when  he  gets  around  the 
corner  he  again  shouts  defiance  at  his  adversary.  But 
he  is  learning  caution,  nevertheless,  and  knows  himself 
better  both  by  defeat  and  by  victory. 

This  indomitable  or  obstinate  or  individuahstic 
spirit  does  not  mean,  however,  that  there  can  be  no 
leaders  among  boys  and  girls.  The  one  who  proves  his 
abiHty  to  get  desired  results  can  be  the  leader,  although 
he  may  have  to  earn  the  right  to  lead  by  his  physical 
superiority.  The  latter  is  by  no  means  always  the  case, 
and  the  street  gang  will  often  follow  the  weaker  but 
more  intelhgent  boy.     The  man  is  permitted  to  lead  the 


BOYS  AND  GIRLS  107 

"  bunch/ ^  not  primarily  because  he  is  strong,  but  rather 
because  he  can  control  the  situations  which  the  group 
enjoys.  He  can  provide  amusements  and  games.  He 
can  do  interesting  things  that  the  boys  want  to  do. 
He  can  make  possible  the  hikes  and  expeditions  which 
the  boys  could  not  undertake  alone.  He  releases  the 
boys  from  certain  responsibilities,  and  reduces  the  amount 
of  thinking  they  have  to  do  in  order  to  have  a  good  time. 
He  is  a  good  provider,  and  a  greatly  to  be  admired 
paragon,  a  miniature  god  to  whom  one  gives  ready 
allegiance  —  up  to  a  certain  point. 

This  delight  in  leadership  merges  with  the  enjoyment 
of  cooperative  activities.  Leadership  is  at  its  best  when 
it  facilitates  cooperation  for  common  ends.  The  boys 
Uke  to  be  together  and  the  girls  Hke  to  be  together,  and 
under  certain  conditions  the  boys  and  girls  Uke  to  be 
together.  Being  with  others  affords  the  necessary 
condition  of  the  competitive  activity  which  is  so  much 
enjoyed.  Cooperation  for  competition  more  nearly 
characterizes  this  period  of  development  than  its  re- 
verse, competition  in  cooperation.  But  in  thus  rivaUng 
one  another's  achievements  they  are  securing  all  un- 
consciously the  training  in  cooperation  that  is  essential 
for  their  social  development. 

The  teacher's  task  Ues  in  providing  suitable  occasions 

for  rivalry,  suitable  objects  for  competition,  and  in  so 

arranging  the  conditions  of  competition  that  the  group 

will    gradually   translate    its    competitive    efforts   into 

-cooperative  efforts. 

Group  Loyalty.  The  basis  for  this  transition  is  in 
the  incipient  group  consciousness  which  identifies  one's 
own  interest  with  that  of  the  group  when  another  group 
appears  on  the  horizon  threatening  the  prestige  or  prop- 


108  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

erty  of  the  first  or  the  safety  of  the  individuals  concerned. 
Loyalty  is  born  in  conflict,  in  the  competition  of  groups. 
But  this  group  competition  involves  a  certain  degree  of 
cooperation,  just  as  in  the  case  of  individuals.  The 
group  enjoy  their  competition  only  when  they  agree  to 
compete.  There  is  no  fun  fighting  when  the  other 
fellow  won't  fight  back.  And,  furthermore,  just  as 
competing  individuals  become  transformed  into  co- 
operating individuals  by  the  mere  appearance  of  another 
set  of  individuals  on  the  horizon,  so  a  group  of  competing 
groups  is  transformed  into  a  cooperating  whole  when  all 
the  groups  are  confronted  with  a  common  enemy  or  a 
common  task.  It  is  the  teacher's  task  to  secure  this 
transformation  of  competing  groups  into  cooperating 
groups  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

Higher  Loyalties  through  Cooperating  Groups. 
But  the  interesting  thing  is  that  the  relation  between  the 
individuals  in  any  one  group  is  not  changed  when  the 
group  ceases  to  compete  with  another  and  starts  to 
cooperate  with  it  instead.  The  presence  of  the  larger 
task  seems  to  inhibit  the  individualistic  tendencies  and 
to  encourage  the  social  tendencies.  In  terms  of  church-, 
school  practise  this  means  that  all  individual  competi- 
tion for  exclusive  honors  such  as  badges  for  attendance 
should  be  transformed  into  cooperative  activity  for  the 
sake  of  the  class  group.  Class  competition  is  enjoyed 
exceedingly.  But  class  competition  also  should  give 
way  before  the  higher  form  of  activity  involved  in  co- 
operation among  classes.  The  awarding  of  class  ban- 
ners for  attendance,  therefore,  although  on  a  higher 
social  level  than  the  giving  of  individual  badges,  is  not 
on  the  Christian  level,  for  it  involves  the  recognition 
not  only  of  success,  but  of  victory,  that  is,  of  another's 


BOYS  AND  GIRLS  109 

defeat.  If  all  had  banners  there  would  be  less  fun  in 
it.  The  joy  of  defeating  the  rest  is  thus  encouraged  at 
the  expense  of  the  cooperative  spirit.  It  should  be  said 
in  palliation  of  this  practise  that  it  is  far  superior  to  the 
rewarding  of  successes  which  in  the  nature  of  the  case 
consist  in  another's  loss  or  humiliation.  It  is  better, 
for  example,  than  the  social  recognition  that  comes  to  a 
man  who  has  made  his  wealth  by  refusing  to  share  equita- 
bly with  those  who  have  helped  him  in  his  work.  But 
it  is  not  good  enough.  A  higher  and  equally  enjoyable 
procedure  is  to  get  every  class  to  work  for  the  record  of 
the  school,  so  that  the  school  may  beat  its  own  record 
every  year.  Cooperation  for  a  common  purpose  is 
here  the  essential  motive.  To  make  it  thoroughly 
Christian  it  only  remains  for  the  pupils  to  see  the  rela- 
tion between  attendance  at  church  school  and  the  prog- 
ress of  the  kingdom  of  God.  If  there  is  none,  of  course 
attendance  must  naturally  be  a  matter  of  small  moment 
to  every  one! 

The  Religious  Assets  of  Later  Childhood.  What 
then  is  the  religious  Hfe  of  the  boys  and  girls?  What 
rehgious  problems  do  they  face?  How  can  the  church 
school  and  the  home  assist  them  to  grow  reUgiously? 

Let  us  count  up  the  religious  assets  of  later  childhood. 
There  is,  first,  what  we  have  called  the  parental  instinct. 
Covered  up  though  it  may  be  in  many  children  by  habits 
of  a  contrary  character,  it  is  still  there,  and  even  in  the 
worst  bully  will  occasionally  show  itself  in  an  attach- 
ment for  a  pet.  Here  is  a  real  basis  in  human  nature 
for  much  that  is  characteristically  Christian. 

Second,  there  is  increasing  fondness  for  a  closer  form 
of  social  cooperation.  The  group,  as  such,  rather  than 
as  a  mere  opportunity  for  a  good  time,  is  beginning  to 


no  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

enlist  budding  loyalties  that  transcend  individual  in- 
terests. Here  is  the  basis  in  life  of  true  Christian 
socialization  of  will. 

Third,  there  is  intellectual  alertness,  manifesting  it- 
self in  incredulity,  in  exploration,  in  reading,  in  rabid 
inquisitiveness,  and  coupled  with  an  ever  increasing 
ability  to  subject  action  to  intellectual  control.  Stand- 
ards of  conduct  can  be  increasingly  effective  and  pur- 
poses can  include  wider  and  wider  ranges  of  conduct  and 
extend  over  longer  periods  of  time.  Witness,  for 
example,  the  case  of  the  boy  who  planned  all  winter  for 
the  play  he  was  going  to  give  the  following  summer. 
Here  is  the  basis  in  mental  ability  for  the  increasing 
organization  of  hfe  and  its  purposes  in  terms  of  the 
Christian  standard. 

Finally,  there  is  the  increasing  interest  in  persons  and 
their  deeds,  which  reaches  its  maximum  at  early  adoles- 
cence in  what  is  called  hero-worship,  and  in  a  shghtly 
different  form,  at  middle  adolescence,  in  chumming. 
The  idealization  of  personality,  the  setting  up  of  a 
picture  of  what  one  wants  a  person  to  be  and  identifying 
this  ideal  with  the  person  as  he  is  —  here  is  the  basis, 
in  appreciation,  of  the  peculiarly  Christian  emphasis 
on  the  ultimate  and  supreme  worth  of  every  indi- 
vidual. 

Hindrances  to  Religious  Life.  Over  against  these 
wonderful  religious  assets  of  later  childhood  we  have 
to  set  certain  other  tendencies  of  individual  and  social 
life  that  make  our  work  as  teachers  of  religion 
difficult. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  physical  and  mental  make-up 
that  is  really  antagonistic  to  our  purposes  as  Christian 
educators  except  the  presence  of  those  natural  desires 


BOYS  AND  GIRLS  111 

and  tendencies  which  are  anti-social  in  character. 
The  chief  trouble  comes  from  the  bad  habits  already 
formed:  habits  of  disrespect  and  irreverence,  habits  of 
selfish  indulgence  or  of  indifference  to  others*  rights; 
habits  of  subterfuge  and  deception,  of  indecency  in 
thought  and  practise.  These  are  the  direct  results  of 
unchristian  surroundings.  The  boys  and  girls  them- 
selves are  not  at  fault  for  being  Httle  savages  when  so- 
ciety itself  provides  them  with  no  opportunity  for  being 
anything  else.  The  city  gang  is  the  result  of  social 
neglect.  The  marauding  gang  is  a  rare  thing  in  the 
country.  There  is  abundant  opportunity  in  the  rural 
districts  for  wholesome  activity,  but  what  can  a  bunch 
of  boys  in  the  city  do?  In  the  country  there  is  still 
some  semblance  of  normal  family  hfe,  but  what  can  the 
family  in  the  city  do?  How  many  famihes  take  their 
recreation  all  together?  How  many  boys  would  have 
a  good  time  doing  the  kinds  of  things  that  are  possible 
for  adults  in  the  city? 

But  beyond  these  gaps  in  the  provision  which  society 
makes  for  normal  childhood,  there  are  the  vicious  in- 
fluences, some  blatant,  some  insidious,  that  surround 
the  youth  on  every  side.  Fortunately  much  of  the 
moral  laxity  of  modern  Hfe  is  not  within  the  range  of  the 
boys'  and  girls*  understanding  and  does  them  no  harm. 
But  much  that  is  not  understood,  even,  is  quietly  form- 
ing the  standards  of  business  and  sex  relations  that  will 
persist  through  Hfe.  It  is  these  early  standards  that 
are  the  most  permanent.  The  throes  of  adolescence 
leave  the  individual  on  an  apparently  higher  moral  level, 
largely  because  of  the  persistence  of  early  standards, 
which  were  themselves  on  a  high  level.  Give  us  the 
child  until  he  is  eight,  say  the  Roman  Catholics,  and 


112         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

we  care  not  what  you  do  to  him  afterwards.  How  much 
more  is  this  true  if  the  period  can  be  extended  to  ten  or 
twelve! 

Having  been  brought  up  in  an  atmosphere  of  indiffer- 
ence to  the  rights  of  individuals  in  school  and  business 
and  every-day  concerns,  of  quiet  assumption  of  low 
moral  standards  of  relations  between  the  sexes,  as  exhib- 
ited in  conversation,  on  bill  boards,  and  at  movies,  is  it 
strange  that  adolescence  frequently  finds  itself  utterly 
unable  to  withstand  the  sohcitations  of  evil-mindedness? 

Overworked  Childhood.  Another  problem  arises 
out  of  the  preoccupation  of  children  with  affairs  not 
strictly  reHgious.  What  a  busy  day  the  nine-year-olds 
have!  The  typical  day  affords  small  opportunity  for^ 
leisure  or  for  play  of  a  spontaneous  character,  and  none 
for  the  preparation  of  church-school  work.  City  chil- 
dren keep  up  the  pace  till  late  at  night.  They  get  up 
just  in  time  to  scramble  into  clothes,  snatch  a  bite  to 
eat  and  race  for  school.  The  better-to-do  have  spare 
time  taken  up  with  special  lessons :  music,  language  and 
dancing.  The  children  are  too  busy  to  be  rehgious,  too 
much  engaged  in  their  own  affairs  to  take  part  in  the 
building  of  the  city  of  God. 

The  Responsiveness  of  Later  Childhood.  But 
give  them  a  chance,  and  their  capacity  for  Christian 
conduct  is  amazing.  Their  environment  is  a  challenge 
as  well  as  a  drawback.  Here  and  now  they  can  try  out 
their  powers  as  Uttle  citizens  of  the  Kingdom.  By 
worship  and  study  and  training  in  Christian  coopera- 
tion under  wise  leadership  they  can  arm  themselves 
fully  for  the  present  conflict  and  against  the  day  of  the 
greater  trials  and  temptations  of  adolescence.  Speak- 
ing out  of  his  own  heart,  one  ten-year-old  boy  wrote 


BOYS  AND  GIRLS  113 

this  prayer  of  aspiration,  a  true  product  of  childhood 
religion : 

"  O  Lord,  we  do  a  good  many  wrongs  in  a  day,  but  you  are  kind 
and  tender,  and  you  forgive  us.  And  we  must  try  to  do  better,  and 
we  must  keep  on  trying,  and  we  will  keep  on  trying  for  you  are  in 
us,  and  helping  us  all  of  the  time." 

The  Purpose  of  Religious  Education  for  Children 
Nine  to  Twelve.  As  an  aid  in  the  discovery  of  our 
method,  let  us  now  formulate  the  purpose  of  religious 
education  for  boys  and  girls  in  the  later  years  of  child- 
hood. 

With  adolescence  comes  increasing  capacity  and  need 
for  organization  of  personality.  From  nine  to  twelve 
this  organization  can  only  be  approached.  But  so  far 
as  organization  of  life  in  terms  of  the  Christian  purpose 
is  possible,  this  must  be  achieved.  Fundamental  to 
the  subsequent  unifying  of  personality  is  the  formation 
of  correct  habits  of  thought  and  conduct  and  feeUng 
now.  Many  such  habits  have  already  been  formed. 
There  are  many  left,  the  need  for  which  arises  out  of  the 
far  broader  fellowship  of  the  boys  and  girls. 

As  our  first  purpose,  therefore,  let  us  remind  ourselves  of  the 
necessity  of  actual  training  in  Christian  living  which  has  as  its  object 
specific  habits  of  conduct :  clean  thinking,  clean  living,  the  doing  of 
good  turns,  generous  treatment  of  others,  fair  play,  regular  prayer, 
if  possible,  or  at  any  rate  the  constant  thought  of  God  as  companion 
in  the  moral  struggle. 

And,  second,  to  bolster  up  these  habits,  the  acquisition  of  ideals 
or  rules  of  conduct  which  embody  the  Christian  standard,  and  which 
imply  the  moral  leadership  of  Jesus,  in  whose  conduct  the  boys  and 
girls  shall  find  their  most  appeahng  ideal  and  their  most  effective 
rule  of  life.  As  will  be  seen  in  our  formulation  of  method,  these  rules 
must  of  course  be  the  product  of  the  children's  own  thinking  and  be 


114         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

worked  out  in  imagination  and  in  practise  in  every  possible  sort  of 
situation. 

Third,  to  give  body  and  color  to  the  Christian  standard  concern- 
ing the  details  of  behavior  by  constantly  enlarging  and  intensifying 
the  children's  consciousness  of  their  world  citizenship,  of  their 
kinship  with  the  children  of  the  whole  world,  of  the  Christian  move- 
ment as  a  mighty  cause  to  which  they  are,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to 
devote  their  lives. 

^  Fourth,  to  anticipate  adolescent  changes  with  suitable  information 
on  matters  of  sex,  associated  intimately  with  all  that  is  sacred  and 
noble  in  the  child's  own  imagination  and  with  the  hours  of  highest 
fellowship  between  father  and  son  and  mother  and  daughter. 

General  Principles  of  Method.  So  much  for  our 
purpose.  Our  method  follows  the  same  general  princi- 
ples already  outlined,  with  adaptations  to  the  special 
needs  and  problems  of  children  from  nine  to  twelve. 

1.  There  is  the  necessity  of  providing  some  kind  of  organized 
group  hfe,  either  in  the  church-school  class,  or  in  the  Junior  de- 
partment, or  in  clubs,  or  in  all  these.  The  need  for  cooperating 
companionships  and  the  desire  for  competition  should  be  met  in 
such  a  way  as  to  insure  the  intensive  and  extensive  development 
of  social  motives,  so  that  by  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age  the  child's 
interest  and  loyalty  shall  be  attached  to  the  church  of  Christ,  either 
through  some  organization  or  by  direct  membership.  We  must  seek 
to  Christianize  the  present  social  relations  of  the  pupils  in  class, 
school,  home,  day  school,  and  so  on,  by  interpreting  this  present  life 
in  terms  of  Christian  standards,  and  by  providing  such  activities 
as  will  give  training  in  Christian  ways  of  doing  things.  Class  duties, 
school  duties,  home  duties,  all  of  which  contribute  definitely  to  the 
happiness  and  efficiency  of  the  group,  are  needed.  Organized  service 
in  the  community  through  the  care  and  expenditure  of  class  funds; 
visits  to  homes  for  crippled  children,  day  nurseries,  homes  for  the 
aged,  schools  for  the  blind,  with  a  view  to  adding  to  the  cheer  of  the 
inmates;  correspondence  with  children  of  other  lands,  and  the  mak- 
ing of  things  that  will  be  useful  to  others;  relief  work  of  all  sorts, 
and  many  other  activities  which  have  social  interest  are  essential 
and  enjoyed  by  the  boys  and  girls. 


BOYS  AND  GIRLS  115 

2.  Training  in  worship  that  is  proper  for  them. 
"3.  The  children  will  need  the  help  that  comes  from  hearing  and 
reading  stories  of  deeds  involving  moral  struggles  and  problems 
like  their  own  and  showing  the  natural  social  consequences  of  right 
and  wrong  choices.  Many  of  the  Old  Testament  stories  are  admi- 
rable for  this  purpose.  The  nine-year-old  can  well  appreciate 
Abraham's  generosity  to  Lot.  The  ten-year-old  responds  to  the 
stirring  appeals  of  Amos  for  justice  to  the  poor,  and  enters  into 
his  clever  trap  for  securing  the  attention  of  the  crowd  at  Bethel. 
These  Old  Testament  stories  have  the  additional  advantage  of 
providing  the  background  for  the  appreciation  of  the  life  of  Jesus, 
which  is  also  well  adapted  to  the  latter  part  of  this  period.  But, 
suitable  as  are  the  Bible  stories,  much  more  is  needed  to  give  the 
pupil  the  wide  social  sympathy  and  understanding  that  we  desire 
for  him.  Stories  of  inmiigrants  and  of  people  of  other  lands  are 
a  great  help,  and  the  children  are  capable  of  considerable  caref'il 
research  into  the  ways  of  foreign  Ufe  so  well  described  in  periodicals 
like  Everyland  and  in  many  books  published  by  the  Missionary 
Education  Movement.  It  is  important,  however,  that  they  should 
not  be  led  to  suppose  that  "  Missions  "  is  a  separate  subject  of 
study  or  interest  in  the  church  school  —  as  though  to  be  friendly  with 
one's  neighbors  were  a  sort  of  afterthought  instead  of  the  very 
heart  of  Christianity. 

Whatever  story  material  is  used  will  be  of  added  value  if  it  is 
freely  dramatized  by  the  pupils.  This  appUes  particularly  to  the 
first  two  or  three  years  of  this  period.  Old  Testament  stories 
lend  themselves  to  spontaneous  representation,  and  the  pupils 
enjoy  taking  parts  and  reproducing  freely  the  meaning  and  the  words 
of  the  characters.  The  words  will  be  few,  but  the  expectation  of 
taking  a  part  adds  interest  to  the  preparation  of  the  lesson  and  in- 
creases the  vividness  of  the  children's  imagery.  Pictures  also  greatly 
help  in  getting  the  children  into  the  atmosphere  of  ancient  Israel 
or  of  modern  China. 

Prepared  dramas,  unless  written  by  the  children,  take  too  much 
time  as  a  rule  to  justify  their  inclusion  in  our  program.  But  it  is  a 
fine  piece  of  training  for  a  group  of  children  to  get  up  a  short  BibUcal 
or  "  Missionary  "  play  themselves,  studying  and  making  costimies 
and  scenery,  writing  the  lines,  and  so  on. 

All  these  matters  are  a  part  of  our  effort  to  make  vivid  sections 


116         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

of  human  experience  which  will  help  the  children  understand  and 
improve  their  own  experience. 

4.  The  children  need  also  formulated  ideals  or  rules  of  conduct 
in  the  form  of  texts,  poems,  verses,  psalms,  hymns,  which  express 
Christian  standards  and  appreciations.  They  learn  these  readily 
and  enjoy  using  them  in  concert. 

5.  They  need,  in  addition  to  what  has  been  described  above, 
some  specific  information  concerning  some  of  the  great  social  in- 
stitutions, such  as  the  church,  and  of  certain  church  practises, 
such  as  baptism,  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  church  year,  the  services. 
Here  is  a  splendid  chance  for  the  pastor  to  come  into  close  touch 
with  every  young  member  of  his  parish. 

6.  Various  instructional  activities  are  possible  now  that  would  be 
too  difficult  for  the  younger  children:  writing  answers  to  questions, 
writing  short  essays,  making  charts  of  attendance,  decorating,  mak- 
ing a  class  book,  and  the  like.  Discussion  is  now  more  profitable, 
and  story-telUng  by  the  pupils  as  well  as  the  dramatizing  mentioned 
above  are  more  effective. 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

1.  It  is  customary  to  separate  boys  and  girls  between  the  ages  of 
nine  and  twelve  in  the  church  school.  What  differences  between 
boys  and  girls  have  you  noticed  that  would  make  desirable  or  re- 
quire this  practise? 

2.  What  is  there  about  the  youngest  Junior  children  that  justifies 
or  requires  or  makes  desirable  their  separation  from  Primary  chil- 
dren?   Should  they  be  separated  for  all  purposes? 

3.  If  you  can  do  so,  ask  several  children  ten  or  eleven  years  old 
to  state  what  kinds  of  motion  pictures  they  prefer,  and  who  their 
favorite  actors  and  actresses  are.  The  following  form  might  be  used 
to  record  the  answers: 

1.  Your  name. 

2.  Your  age. 

3.  What  kind  of  a  picture  do  you  like  best? 

4.  What  actor  or  actress  do  you  like  best? 

5.  Which  one  do  you  like  second  best? 

6.  What  well  known  picture  do  you  like  best? 


BOYS  AND  GIRLS  117 

After  looking  over  the  results  of  this  investigation,  define  some  of 
the  problems  of  religious  education  for  children  of  this  age. 

4.  Have  schedules  similar  to  Appendix  III,  Chart  C,  filled  out  by 
a  group  of  children  from  nine  to  twelve  years  of  age.  Summarize 
the  results  as  was  suggested  for  the  younger  children. 

5.  Cases  25  to  30  belong  to  the  period  studied  in  this  chapter. 
They  may  suggest  similar  instances  from  your  observation. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  TRANSITION 

From  Childhood  to  Youth 

Some  General  Facts.  The  charts  given  below 
reveal  astonishing  facts  that  may  challenge  the  credulity 
of  some  of  the  readers  who  examine  them.  Doubtless, 
however,  they  would  be  matched  by  charts  of  almost  any 

1765  r^ 


1214 


425  /  \ 


8        /o       iZ      /!/       /C      iS     iO     io-*- 

Figure  1 

church-school's  enrolment.  The  charts  on  crime  and 
conduct  can  be  checked  by  making  others  on  the  basis 
of  the  police  statistics  and  school  conduct  marks  in  one's 
own  town  or  city. 

The  first  chart  is  taken  from  a  table  in  G.  Stanley 
Hall's  Adolescence,  Vol.  I,  page  326.  It  shows  graphic- 
ally the  number  of  sentences  imposed  on  7475  boys  from 

118 


THE  TRANSITION 


119 


eight  to  twenty  years  old.  The  figures  at  the  left  in- 
dicate the  number  of  cases,  and  the  figures  at  the  bottom 
the  ages  of  the  boys. 

On  page  346  of  the  same  volume,  Hall  gives  a  chart 
showing  the  school  marks  for  conduct  of  3012  Italian 

Age^'  II  II  /3  i4  IS  Ik  n  t% 

It 

Jo 
41 

u 

U 
6o 

Si 

Figxire  2 

boys,  from  eleven  to  eighteen  years  old.  "  Conduct  was 
marked  as  good,  bad  and  indifferent,  according  to  the 
teacher's  estimate,  and  was  good  at  (age)  eighteen  in  74 
per  cent  of  the  cases ;  at  eleven  in  70  per  cent ;  at  seven- 
teen in  69  per  cent;  and  at  fourteen  in  only  58  per  cent." 
Figures  3,  4  and  5  are  taken  from  Coe's  The  Spiritual 
Life.  The  first  one  shows  the  age  distribution  of  the 
rehgious  awakenings  of  99  men.  It  reads  thus:  Eight 
per  cent  of  the  men  report  a  religious  awakening  at 
eleven  years ;  nineteen  per  cent  report  a  religious  awak- 
ening at  twelve  years;  twenty-two  per  cent  at  thirteen 
years;  only  nine  per  cent  at  fourteen  years,  etc. 


120 


CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 


Figure  4  shows  the  age  of  the  decisive  religious  awak- 
ening of  84  of  these  99  men.  The  curve  is  more  irregular, 
but  the  high  and  low  points  are  at  about  the  same  ages. 
It  reads  the  same  as  figure  3. 


In  Figure  5  the  same  interesting  facts  appear.  This 
shows  the  age  given  by  272  ministers  as  the  age  of  their 
own  conversion.     It  is  remarkably  like  the  last  curve. 

These  curves  represent  what  is  going  on  in  the  young 


THE  TRANSITION 


121 


people.  Let  us  compare  these  facts  with  the  influences 
being  brought  to  bear  on  them.  Figures  6  and  7  show 
the  curve  of  ehmination  in  two  city  schools.^  The 
ages  are  at  the  bottom.  The  number  of  pupils  is  at  the 
left.  The  curve  represents  the  number  of  pupils  of 
each  age  enrolled  in  the  schools. 

Not  less  significant  are  the  facts  of  church-school 
enrolment.  In  a  survey,  not  in  print,  made  by  the 
students  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Training  School  at  Spring- 
field, Mass.,  the  following  facts  are  brought  out  con- 
cerning  the    enrolment    and    attendance    of    boys    in 

'The  figures  for  these  graphs  are  found  in  Strayer,  Age  and  Grade  Censua  of 
Schools  and  ColUgw.     U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education  Bulletin  451. 


CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 


Elimination  curve  for  Somerville,  Mass. 


g       J        ,o      tl       /«.        tA     lU     IS-      t^     *7        'f     tf      X.O 

Figure  7 
Elimination  curve  for  Philadelphia,  Penn. 


THE  TRANSITION 


123 


thirty-four  Springfield  church  schools.^  Figure  8  shows 
the  enrolment  in  actual  numbers.  The  enrolment  in- 
creases to  thirteen  years,  at  which  point  it  is  the  highest. 
That  is,  there  are  more  boys  of  thirteen  enrolled  in  the 


o 

7      /«       //       /2.     /5      lU     ,s-  tL       //      It      /f      2o 

Figure  8.  —  Enrolment 

Springfield  schools  than  of  any  other  age.     But  see  what 
happens  next! 

Figure  9  gives  the  percentage  of  attendance  for  a  short 
period.     Ages  ten  and  twelve  are  the  high  points  here 
and  then  there  is  a  steady  decHne  in  the  attendance  of 
the  boys  as  well  as  in  the  number  on  the  roll. 

»  These  two  sets  of  facts  were  compiled  by  O.  C.  Fowler. 


124 

So  . 

20. 
0   . 


CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 


Figure  9.  —  Attendance 


»^    i<t      20      ZOf 


Some  Particular  Facts.  From  this  bird^s-eye  view 
let  us  turn  to  some  individual  young  people,  just  to  see 
what  they  are  like.     Here  is  a  thirteen-year-old  girl: 

"1.  Physical:  Very  slender  but  growing  taller;  very  little 
strength.  One  night  she  challenged  me  to  a  race  of  about  fifty 
yards.     She  gave  up  and  stopped  before  it  was  half  over. 

"  2.  New  interest  in  self:  Very  dressy,  wearing  large  ribbon  or 
fancy  tulle  bows  on  her  hair  and  very  large  white  furs.  She  often 
fusses  with  her  clothes  during  class  and  delights  in  '  counting  off ' 
the  buttons  on  her  own  or  some  other  girl's  dress. 

"3.  Social  instincts:  She  says  she  has  a  girl  chum  and  likes  her 
'because  she  is  handsome  and  kind.'  She  is  sensitive  to  all  the 
life  around  her—  so  much  so  that  it  is  extremely  difiicult  to  interest 
her  in  anything  else.    She  is  full  of  Ufe  and  independent.    With 


THE  TRANSITION  125 

girls  who  are  timid  she  is  inclined  to  be  overbearing.  Altruism: 
She  always  wants  to  do  things  to  help,  but  when  the  time  comes  she 
lets  Uttle  things  hinder  her.  For  instance,  although  she  had  of  her 
own  accord  promised  to  help  with  the  Christmas  dinner  that  our 
class  was  to  take  to  a  poor  family,  she  failed  to  come  to  help.  One 
day  she  went  with  a  friend  to  see  a  bUnd  woman  and  girl  and  read 
to  them.    She  was  very  enthusiastic  when  she  gave  her  account  of  it. 

"  Interest  in  the  other  sex:  She  is  very  fond  of  boys.  She  talks 
about  them  a  great  deal  to  the  other  girls  and  always  looks  at  them 
very  admiringly  and  comments  on  them  when  they  go  to  the  plat- 
form with  their  birthday  offerings.  Once  when  a  certain  night  was 
mentioned  as  a  possible  one  for  a  social  she  said,  '  I  can't  come. 
That's  beau  night.'  Her  attitude  with  boys  is  partially  shown  in 
the  following  incident:  Once  when  we  were  at  a  social  meeting  of 
the  class  she  said,  *  I  know  a  grand  game.  Let's  play  it.  We 
played  it  with  a  crowd  of  boys  and  girls  and  it  was  the  most  fun  I 
ever  had.'  It  turned  out  to  be  a  game  full  of  harmful  possibilities, 
a  kissing  game  in  which  the  kissing  is  done  when  the  two  are  in  a 
room  alone.  This  girl  seemed  absolutely  unconscious  of  any  idea 
that  it  was  not  a  proper  game. 

"  4.  Control  by  ideals:  Once  on  going  by  the  home  of  another 
girl,  she  said,  *  What  an  old  dump  you  Uve  inl '  I  was  told  of  this 
by  the  girl's  mother.  The  next  social  meeting  was  to  be  in  the 
home  of  this  poor  girl.  To  my  great  reUef  the  girl  about  whom  I 
am  writing  acted  in  a  very  ladyUke  way  during  the  whole  evening, 
showing  that  she  had  some  good  ideals  of  how  to  receive  hospitaUty. 
There  was  an  old  grandfather  in  the  home  to  whom  she  was  very 
sweet  and  attentive.  She  often  hummed  or  whispered  during  prayer 
at  Sunday  school,  and  didn't  always  assume  an  attitude  of  kindness 
or  attention  to  the  speaker  on  the  platform.  She  wants  to  bring 
rag-time  music  to  all  of  the  social  meetings. 

"  5.  Religious:  She  is  a  member  of  the  church,  but  as  can  be 
gathered  from  the  above  she  is  not  yet  consciously  accepting  the 
ideals  of  Christ  as  her  own  ideals.  Her  home  and  other  environ- 
ment evidently  pull  strongly  the  other  way."  ^ 

Some  boys  fourteen  and  fifteen  years  of  age  were 
asked  to  write  down  their  idea  of  an  ideal  classmate,  to 

1  From  a  student's  observations. 


126         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

indicate  which  of  their  classmates  represented  this  ideal, 
and  to  give  incidents  showing  what  they  meant.  Here  is 
one  such  statement. 

"  I  think  John  is  an  ideal  classmate.  By  an  ideal  classmate  I 
mean  that  he  is  a  sensible,  well  behaving  young  chap.  He  is  fond 
of  athletics  and  is  full  of  fun  and  jokes.  He  likes  to  take  long  walks 
around  the  corridors  and  talk  about  interesting  things.  When  he 
gets  in  trouble  or  a  scrape  he  does  not  try  to  wiggle  out  of  it  but  takes 
his  medicine  as  well  as  the  rest.  One  of  his  best  traits  is  that  he  is  not 
selfish  and  if  any  one  does  him  a  good  turn  he  gladly  does  it  back  at 
another  time. 

"  That  he  is  an  ideal  classmate  is  shown  by  the  following  instances. 
He  has  often  done  me  a  favor  in  study-halls  by  asking  the  teacher 
questions  for  me.  He  also  loaned  me  his  science  book  so  I  could  get 
mine  copied  up  and  handed  in  in  time." 

Certain  other  typical  interests  are  suggested  by  the 
following  quotations  from  a  boy's  diary. 

Age  13j.  Went  to  school.  After  school  I  went  skating  on  the 
pond,  but  it  was  not  good.  I  went  over  to  the  playground.  Helen, 
Jim,  Rea,  Dora,  Alice,  and  some  others  were  there.  After  supper 
I  went  over  to  Mrs.  H's.  She  had  invited  all  the  boys  in  our  room 
to  come.  We  had  a  peach  of  a  time.  Had  phonograph  and  games, 
riddles,  refreshments.  All  the  boys  but  George  were  there.  Had 
fine  time.     Got  home  at  10.30  p.m. 

Age  IQ.  This  morning  went  to  H.  in  the  car.  Went  up  to 
Henry's  and  left  my  overcoat.  Then  went  up  to  Benny's.  Saw 
him.  Then  went  up  to  Harriet's.  Had  fine  time.  Came  down 
and  had  some  soda  with  Benny.  Went  up  to  Harriet's.  Had  din- 
ner there.  Had  an  elegant  time.  Best  I  ever  had  about.  She 
gave  me  her  picture.  It  is  just  elegant.  I  invited  her  to  come  out 
Saturday.  She  is  coming.  Went  over  to  Jim's  and  to  Mr.  C's, 
the  Principal  of  the  high  school.  He  was  out.  Came  up  on  Oak 
Street,  went  over  to  fair  grounds,  and  played  baseball  with  Jack, 
Henry,  Jim,  and  Mat  and  some  others.  My  side  beat  4-3.  I 
pitched.  Came  home  on  5.45  car.  Got  to  N.  6.15  p.m.  Went  up 
to  house.  Today  has  been  one  of  the  happiest  days  I  have  had  for  a 
good  while.     Next  Saturday  I  expect  a  good  time  also. 


THE  TRANSITION  127 

The  Growth  of  Sex  Consciousness.  These  few 
instances  will  call  to  our  minds  many  other  similar  ones 
in  our  own  experience  or  in  what  we  have  seen  in  young 
people. 

Very  obviously,  these  children  are  very  different  from 
those  nine  to  twelve  years  old.  They  are  beginning  to 
shoot  up.  Their  feet  and  hands  are  getting  too  big. 
They  are  awkward  in  body  and  mind.  They  are  forever 
getting  in  their  own  and  other  people's  way.  Heretofore 
they  have  fitted  into  the  scheme  of  things  as  they  are. 
They  no  longer  fit.  They  bring  a  new  factor,  namely, 
themselves,  into  the  scheme,  and  we  have  to  readjust 
ourselves  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that  they  are. 

During  the  preceding  years,  we  have  been  obliged  to 
set  off  the  boys  from  the  girls  in  our  consciousness,  but 
it  was  boys  and  girls  we  were  distinguishing,  and  the 
sex  differences  of  manhood  and  womanhood  were  not 
apparent.  But  now  sex  is  a  factor  to  be  reckoned  with. 
We  are  dealing  with  young  men  and  young  women  in 
whom  physiological  changes  are  taking  place  by  which 
they  are  to  win  title  to  membership  in  the  community  of 
full  grown  males  and  females. 

These  physiological  changes  are  sources  of  interest  and 
anxiety  and  temptation.  They  frequently  are  not  un- 
derstood and  frequently  are  misrepresented  by  the  talk 
of  the  street.  Boys  suffer  most  from  vicious  suggestion, 
and  the  deadly  stimulus  of  half  truths  impelling  with 
extraordinary  insistence  to  the  discovery  of  the  whole 
truth  by  hook  or  crook.  Girls  suffer  more  from  sheer, 
ignorance,  lacking  the  intensity  of  interest  of  the  boys. 
But  there  is  also  with  them  the  danger  of  misled  curiosity 
and  of  over-stimulation  of  interest. 

We  might  as  well  recognize  these  facts  at  the  beginning, 


128  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

and  by  frankly  facing  them  ourselves,  help  to  dispel  the 
unholy  and  prurient  silence,  not  to  say  embarrassment, 
that  curses  our  every  effort  toward  a  wholesome  recog- 
nition of  the  facts  of  sex. 

The  greatest  need  for  information  is  just  before 
puberty.  If  we  can  develop  the  right  attitudes  toward 
the  opposite  sex,  attitudes  of  chivalry  and  cooperation, 
secure  habits  of  cleanhness  in  thought  and  speech  and 
act,  explain  the  characteristic  phenomena  accompanying 
the  maturing  of  the  reproductive  organs,  which  the  boy 
or  the  girl  must  expect,  surround  the  whole  with  an 
atmosphere  of  matter-of-fact  every-dayness,  answering 
accurately  every  question,  replacing  the  modern  taboo 
with  a  practical  idealism  which  faces  facts  unafraid,  we 
shall  have  adequately  prepared  the  way  for  the  ripening 
of  the  consciousness  of  sex.  It  will  be  easy  then  to  an- 
swer the  new  questions  that  arise,  and  to  cultivate  a 
manly  and  womanly  expectation  of  family  Ufe.  In- 
formation concerning  the  opposite  sex  will  be  demanded, 
if  the  relations  between  child  and  parent  are  already  on 
a  confidential  basis.  No  more  should  be  given  than  is 
asked  for,  and  such  as  is  given  should  allay,  not  arouse, 
curiosity. 

The  regimen  of  wholesome  sex  life  during  these  years 
depends  on  these  factors: 

1.  Personal  hygiene,  including  every  precaution  against  irrita- 
tion of  any  kind,  whether  from  too  little  exercise,  too  rich  food,  hot 
rooms,  or  too  little  bathing.  The  physical  tone  must  be  kept  up 
and  excess  energy  must  be  worked  off  in  outdoor  exercise. 

2.  Frequent  association  with  the  opposite  sex  in  groups,  on  the 
same  plane  as  the  association  of  brothers  and  sisters  as  equals  in  the 
same  family,  so  that  the  attitudes  of  wholesome  democratic  family 
relationships  will  characterize  the  attitudes  of  boys  and  girls  of 
different  families  toward  one  another.    A  practical  brotherhood 


THE  TRANSITION  129 

and  sisterhood  is  the  greatest  defense  there  is  against  abnormal 
stimulation  of  sex  interests. 

3.  Information  concerning  one's  own  sex  life,  increasing  gradually 
to  cover  the  essential  facts  of  reproduction,  based  on  information 
familiar  since  childhood,  and  imparted  by  the  parents,  and  concern- 
ing the  individual  and  social  consequences  of  illicit  intercourse  in 
contrast  with  the  Christian  ideal  of  a  sacrificial  family  life. 

4.  An  abundance  of  intellectual  interest. 

5.  Consecration  to  the  Christian  ideal  for  the  world. 

Just  to  bring  concretely  before  us  the  untutored  atti- 
tudes of  man  toward  woman  and  of  woman  toward  man, 
I  shall  quote  the  following  primitive  accounts.  The 
first  is  an  extract  from  a  story  in  Sanskrit.^  It  repre- 
sents what  man  thinks  about  woman  when  his  thoughts 
are  unaffected  by  any  sort  of  appreciation  of  her  human- 
ity. 

"  In  the  beginning,  when  Twashtri  came  to  the  creation  of  woman 
he  found  that  he  had  exhausted  his  materials  in  the  making  of  man, 
and  that  no  solid  elements  were  left.  In  this  dilemma,  after  pro- 
found meditation,  he  did  as  follows.  He  took  the  rotundity  of  the 
moon,  and  the  curves  of  creepers,  and  the  clinging  of  tendrils,  and 
the  trembling  of  grass,  and  the  slenderness  of  the  reed,  and  the  bloom 
of  flowers,  and  the  lightness  of  leaves,  and  the  timidity  of  the  hare, 
and  the  vanity  of  the  peacock,  and  the  clustering  of  rows  of  bees, 
and  the  joyous  gaiety  of  sunbeams,  and  the  weeping  of  clouds,  and 
the  fickleness  of  the  winds,  and  the  softness  of  the  parrot's  bosom,  and 
the  hardness  of  adamant,  and  the  sweetness  of  honey,  and  the  cruelty 
of  the  tiger,  and  the  warm  glow  of  fire,  and  the  coldness  of  snow,  and 
the  chattering  of  jays,  and  the  cooing  of  the  kokila,  and  the  hypocrisy 
of  the  crane,  and  the  fideUty  of  the  chakrawaka,  and  compounding 
all  these  together,  he  made  woman  and  gave  her  to  man.  But  after 
one  week,  man  came  to  him  and  said:  Lord,  this  creature  that  you 
have  given  me  makes  my  life  miserable.  She  chatters  incessantly 
and  teases  me  beyond  endurance,  never  leaving  me  alone;  and  she 
requires  incessant  affection,  and  takes  all  my  time  up,  and  cries 

*  Quoted  by  Thomas,  W.  I,,  in  (Source  Book  for  Social  Origin*,  University  of 
Chicago  Press. 


130         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

about  nothing,  and  is  always  idle;  and  so  I  have  come  to  give  her 
back  again,  as  I  cannot  live  with  her.  So  Twashtri  said:  Very  well. 
And  he  took  her  back.  Then,  after  another  week,  man  came  back 
to  him  and  said:  Lord,  I  find  that  my  hfe  is  very  lonely,  since  I 
gave  you  back  that  creature.  I  remember  how  she  used  to  dance 
and  sing  to  me,  and  look  at  me  out  of  the  comer  of  her  eye,  and 
play  with  me  and  cling  to  me;  and  her  laughter  was  music,  and  she 
was  beautiful  to  look  at,  and  soft  to  touch;  so  give  her  back  again. 
Then  after  only  three  days,  man  came  back  to  him  again  and  said: 
Lord,  I  know  not  how  it  is;  but  after  all  I  have  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  she  is  more  of  a  trouble  than  a  pleasure  to  me;  so  please 
take  her  back  again.  But  Twashtri  said:  Out  on  you!  Be  off! 
I  will  have  no  more  of  this.  You  must  manage  how  you  can. 
Then  man  said:  But  I  cannot  Uve  with  her.  And  Twashtri  repHed: 
Neither  could  you  live  without  her.  And  he  turned  his  back  on 
man,  and  went  on  with  his  work.  Then  man  said:  What  is  to  be 
done?    For  I  cannot  hve  either  with  her  or  without  her." 

The  second  is  from  the  journal  of  a  girl  of  fifteen.  It 
represents  a  perfectly  natural  attitude  which  is  inhibited 
in  some  girls,  and  is  even  more  outspoken  in  others,  but 
which,  in  greater  or  less  degree,  is  present  in  all. 

"  Jan.  3.  Just  think  of  it,  Jim  says  he  is  going  to  claim  me  ten 
years  from  tonight,  but  he  will  forget  all  about  it  by  that  time.  .  .  . 
Jan.  7.  Jim  was  up  this  evening  and  that  is  the  only  thing  that  has 
happened  of  any  importance.  .  .  .  Jan.  8.  Jim  left  right  away 
after  dinner  because  he  had  promised  to  take  Miss  A.  out  riding.  .  .  . 
Went  to  C.  E.  and  church.  Jim  had  Miss  A.  to  church  but  I  don't 
care.  Jan.  9.  The  weather  has  been  too  disagreeable  for  anything 
today  and  I  guess  I  have  too,  at  least  L.  said  I  had.  I  haven't 
seen  Jim  all  day,  guess  he  went  to  see  Miss  A.  this  evening.  (I 
think  he  must  be  getting  pretty  badly  stuck  on  her.)  Jan.  10  .  .  . 
As  Jim  did  not  put  in  his  appearance  here  I  suppose  he  must  have  gone 
up  to  Miss  A.'s  (dear  me,  but  I  wish  she  would  go).  Jan.  11.  I 
didn't  go  to  school  today  and  this  afternoon  I  went  up  to  Helen's 
and  then  Helen,  Alice,  Florence  and  myself  went  sleigh-riding  with 
Jack.  Jim  came  up  this  evening  but  I  went  off  with  the  girls  to  the 
C.  E.  social  in  the  music  rooms  and  left  Mamma  to  entertain  him 
which  I  think  she  done  with  success,  but  at  the  social  George,  Jack 


THE  TRANSITION  131 

and  Max  acted  like  perfect  fools,  that  is  the  only  word  that  will 
express  how  they  acted.  Jan.  12.  Jack  and  George  have  made  me  so 
disgusted  with  them  all  day  in  school,  acted  very  near  as  bad  as  they 
did  last  night,  but  Jim  came  up  this  evening  so  I  got  over  my  disgust 
for  I  come  to  the  conclusion  that  at  least  one  person  in  the  world 
could  behave  themselves  and  act  like  a  gentleman.  Jan.  13.  .  .  . 
Haven't  seen  Jim  today,  too  bad,  isn't  it?  " 

Growing  Intellectual  and  Emotional  Capacity. 

There  are  many  other  matters  that  concern  us,  however, 
besides  the  changing  attitudes  toward  the  opposite  sex. 
The  physiological  growth  characteristic  of  these  years 
is  accompanied  by  an  enlarging  capacity  for  abstract 
thinking.  It  is  now  that  most  of  those  who  are  to  grow 
up  intellectually  at  all  achieve  the  characteristic  mental 
activity  of  normal  inteUigence.  These  early  years  see 
an  exaggeration  in  the  direction  of  interest  in  generaliza- 
tions, in  the  Universal,  the  Absolute,  in  Truth,  Beauty 
and  Goodness,  as  things  forever  fixed  and  supreme.  The 
new  feeling  for  logical  procedure  leads  to  extreme  con- 
clusions, to  rigid  ideals  and  standards,  to  excessive  criti- 
cism of  self  and  others. 

Along  with  this  growing  intellectual  capacity  comes 
an  intensification  of  emotional  response.  The  body 
responds  more  completely  to  contrasts  and  shocks  which 
would  leave  a  child  unaffected.  The  somatic  rumblings 
and  sharp  detonations  of  true  emotion  are  now  possible, 
nor  does  it  take  much  of  a  spark  to  touch  off  internal 
explosions.  This  is  no  doubt  partly  due  to  the  fact  that 
inhibitions  are  more  numerous,  and  the  precise  behavior 
called  for  by  a  situation  is  not  so  certain  as  it  was  in 
childhood.  And  so,  not  being  able  to  respond  ade- 
quately to  a  difficult  situation  by  fighting,  or  calling 
names,  or  running  away,  the  adolescent  is  swamped  by 


132         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

the  overflow  of  dammed-up  energy  into  the  inner  muscu- 
lar and  vascular  systems.  The  circulation  is  thrown 
out  of  gear,  digestive  organs  behave  queerly,  and  various 
other  things  happen  which  tend  to  confuse  his  conscious- 
ness. 

These  new  capacities  and  experiences  call  for  a  re- 
organization of  self;  they  make  the  old  self  conspicuous 
in  consciousness  and  they  make  a  new  self  essential.  At 
first  this  new  self  is  sought  by  a  self-assertion  that 
catches  hold  of  any  impulse  and  sets  it  up  as  master  in 
the  house.  The  old  ''I  want  "  of  the  four-year-old 
becomes  the  "  I  will "  of  the  fourteen-year-old.  He 
objects  to  restraint.  He  insists  on  his  own  independence. 
He  revolts  against  authority. 

Then  comes  the  time  when  the  seeker  for  a  self  becomes 
more  keenly  conscious  of  other  selves  of  the  same  and 
opposite  sex.  He  tries  to  be  somebody  else,  perhaps. 
He  revels  in  personaUty  as  in  a  newly  discovered  country. 
Persons  loom  large  in  his  consciousness.  He  forgets  him- 
self in  his  absorption  into  the  society  of  selves,  and  he 
finds  himself  at  last  in  the  larger  selfhood  of  a  world 
society.  Before  adolescence  he  would  give  and  get  with 
equal  enthusiasm.  Then  when  the  transition  came  he 
was  for  a  time  intent  on  getting  more  than  on  giving. 
But  this  gave  way,  under  encouragement,  to  the  desire 
to  give,  and  in  this  dominant  motive,  just  to  give,  he 
found  life. 

But  these  are  moods.  Unless  attached  to  some  ap- 
propriate activity  they  tend  to  pass  away,  and  a  con- 
stitutional temperament,  deeper  than  the  adolescent 
irruptions,  becomes  the  permanent  attitude  of  the  in- 
dividual. 

Thus  we  have  seen  the  basis  of  the  adolescent  hero- 


THE  TRANSITION  133 

worship,  the  capacity  for  loyalty  and  team-play,  the 
development  of  the  social  spirit,  the  desire  for  self-dis- 
covery and  self-expression,  the  kaleidoscopic  change  of 
interests.  It  is  easy  to  understand  the  youth ^s  "  yeasti- 
ness  "  of  mind,  as  Coe  calls  it,  the  welter  of  inconsistencies 
between  ideals  and  conduct,  the  seething  imagination 
occupied  with  self,  with  persons  and  personal  relations 
or  standards  of  personal  conduct.  What  a  splendid 
opportunity  for  reHgious  education  —  the  longings,  the 
idealism,  the  interest  in  destiny,  the  capacity  for  con- 
secrated activity  in  loyalty  to  the  church  of  Christ,  for 
new  understanding  of  the  worth  of  the  individual  human 
being,  and  hence  for  a  new  appreciation  of  God!  And 
what  are  we  doing  about  it?  Some  few  get  into  the 
church.  But  what  of  the  rest?  Figures  8  and  9  tell  us. 
Look  at  them  once  more. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

1.  Make  a  list  of  things  some  high-school  boy  or  girl  you  know  is 
interested  in. 

2.  What  difiference  is  there  between  the  ways  high-school  boys  and 
girls  behave  toward  one  another,  and  the  ways  in  which  grammar- 
school  boys  and  girls  behave  toward  one  another?  Is  the  interest 
of  boys  in  girls  and  of  girls  in  boys  good,  or  bad,  or  neither?  What 
are  its  social  impUcations?  What  use  can  be  made  of  it  in  reHgious 
education? 

3.  At  what  age  should  children  join  the  church?  On  what 
psychological  facts  do  you  base  your  conclusion? 

4.  In  terms  of  the  educational  process,  what  is  the  precise  value  of 
Decision  Day?  Is  there  anything  about  it  that  deserves  to  be  re- 
tained in  a  thoroughgoing  school  of  reUgion?  If  so,  point  out  how 
its  values  can  be  conserved  without  its  deleterious  effects. 

On  the  problem  of  sex  education,  Maurice  A.  Bigelow's  book, 
Sex  Education,  will  be  found  particularly  helpful. 

For  further  reading  on  Adolescence,  consult  the  BibHography, 
Appendix  II. 


CHAPTER  IX 
OUR  INHERITED  EQUIPMENT 

The  Physical  Basis 

"  Where  have  I  come  from,  where  did  you  pick  me  up?  "  the  baby 
asked  its  mother. 

She  answered  half  crying,  half  laughing,  and  clasping  the  baby  to 
her  breast,  — 

"  You  were  hidden  in  my  heart  as  its  desire,  my  darHng. 

"  You  were  in  the  dolls  of  my  childhood's  games;  and  when  with 
clay  I  made  the  image  of  my  god  every  morning,  I  made  and  unmade 
you  then. 

"  You  were  enshrined  with  our  household  deity,  in  his  worship 
I  worshiped  you. 

"  In  all  my  hopes  and  my  loves,  in  my  life,  in  the  life  of  my  mother 
you  have  lived. 

"  In  the  lap  of  the  deathless  Spirit  who  rules  our  home  you  have 
been  nursed  for  ages. 

"  When  in  girlhood  my  heart  was  opening  its  petals,  you  hovered 
as  a  fragrance  about  it. 

"  Your  tender  softness  bloomed  in  my  youthful  hmbs,  like  a  glow 
in  the  sky  before  the  sunrise. 

"  Heaven's  first  darling,  twin-bom  with  the  morning  Ught,  you 
have  floated  down  the  stream  of  the  world's  life,  and  at  last  you  have 
stranded  on  my  heart. 

"  As  I  gaze  on  your  face,  mystery  overwhelms  me;  you  who  belong 
to  all  have  become  mine. 

"  For  fear  of  losing  you  I  hold  you  tight  to  my  breast.  What 
magic  has  snared  the  world's  treasure  in  these  slender  arms  of 
mine?  "  ^ — Tagore 

The  Beginning  of  Life.  For  many  thousands  of 
years  there  has  been  going  on  an  immense  experiment 

1  Reprinted  by  permission  of  the  publishers,  The  Macmillan  Company,  from 
The  Crescent  Moon,  copyright,  1913,  by  The  Macmillan  Co. 

134 


OUR  INHERITED  EQUIPMENT  135 

in  life.  Since  the  first  combination  of  chemical  elements 
occurred  which  possessed  spontaneity,  which  responded 
actively  from  within  its  little  exclusive  bulk  to  the 
less  Uving  ooze  without,  this  experiment  in  Ufe  has  been 
going  on.  Having  gathered  to  itself  a  new  chemical 
reaction,  this  new  combination  of  elements  proceeded 
to  do  what  had  never  been  done  before,  it  began  to  grow 
by  absorbing  something  outside  of  itself  into  its  own 
structure.  Instead  of  yielding  its  structure,  its  particu- 
lar chemical  combination,  to  the  forces  playing  upon  it, 
as  all  other  combinations  had  done,  it  succeeded  in  be- 
coming itself  a  center  of  creative  force,  transforming  in- 
stead of  merely  being  transformed  by  the  stuff  of  the  world. 

Only  the  great  universe  had  possessed  this  mysterious 
spontaneity,  and  it  could  only  change  its  form.  The 
universe  could  not  grow,  and  nothing  within  it  could 
transform  anything  else  into  a  means  for  growing.  Only 
this  new  thing  could  do  that,  and  so  it  Uved.  It  be- 
came a  new  creative  force,  a  new  center  of  Ufe  within  the 
physical  universe. 

That  little  germ  of  life  did  not  possess  in  itself  all  the 
complex  structure  of  vegetable  and  animal  existence 
that  now  covers  the  earth.  All  it  had  was  life.  But  it 
started  going  a  process  that  has  been  going  on  ever  since. 
It  is  essentially  a  process  of  conservation,  of  holding  on, 
of  resisting  forces  that  tend  to  disintegrate  the  particu- 
lar chemical  combination  involved.  This  thread  of 
resisting,  creating  life  has  never  been  completely  broken. 
Every  Uving  thing,  including  trees  and  men,  can  trace 
its  life  back  to  the  primeval  ooze. 

With  changing  habitat,  the  original  structure  of  the 
life-carrier  changed,  and  of  the  various  types  evolved, 
some  resisted  outside  forces  better  than  others,  growing 


136         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

faster  and  breaking  up  into  new  centers  faster  than  some 
other  structures,  and  so  crowding  out  the  less  adapted 
forms.  The  existence  of  the  hfe-carriers  themselves 
constituted  a  change  in  the  physical  environment  which 
the  living  organisms  had  to  face.  Life  met  life,  and,  as 
when  Greel^  met  Greek,  something  different  had  to 
happen.  Here  were  two  resisting,  creating  centers  at 
the  same  job  in  the  same  place.  They  must  either 
cooperate  or  fight.  Some  fought  and  some  cooperated, 
and  then  the  cooperating  groups  had  the  better  of  it. 
The  cooperating  groups  were  not  all  ahke.  Some  suc- 
ceeded better  than  others  in  maintaining  themselves. 

The  Continuation  of  Life.  These  successful  groups 
were  the  first  real  individuals.  Heretofore  life  was  con- 
tinued simply  by  having  the  life  carriers  break  up  into 
two  pieces.  There  was  no  death.  Now  the  continua- 
tion of  the  structure  became  a  more  complicated  task. 
It  still  had  to  be  done  by  breaking  up,  but  the  most 
successful  groups  were  those  that  were  made  of  Hfe- 
carriers  some  of  which  did  the  breaking  up  while  others 
obtained  food.  This  division  of  labor  among  the  differ- 
ent cells  composing  the  new  Ufe  units  became  finally  so 
complete  that  even  the  reproducing  cells  specialized 
into  two  kinds,  both  of  which  were  necessary  for  the 
process  of  cell  division  by  which  Hfe  was  continued  in 
new  individuals.  When  the  reproducing  cells  became 
so  speciaHzed  that  they  had  to  do  all  the  reproducing, 
they  had,  of  course,  to  reproduce  all  the  different  kinds 
of  cells  needed  in  the  new  organism,  including  the 
speciaHzed  reproducing  cells,  which  would  do  the  same 
thing  over  again  for  the  new  organism.  Thus  the  Hne 
of  life  is  not  from  organism  to  organism,  but  from  re- 
production cells  to  reproduction  cells.     It  is  not  the 


OUR  INHERITED  EQUIPMENT 


137 


individual  that  is  reproduced,  but  the  stock.    Diagramat- 
ically  the  process  is  as  follows : 


B 

K  ' 

^— 

■^ 

f< 

. — 

•r' 

-- 

■'' 

B 

B 

B 

Figure  10 
R  =  Reproductive  cells  or  germ  plasm.         B  =  Rest  of  body  or  somataplasm 

As  the  single  cell  from  which  the  new  structure  grows 
begins  to  divide,  these  new  cells  speciaUze  on  the  kind  of 
tissue  to  be  produced:  bones,  muscles,  digestive  organs, 
nerve  tissue,  reproductive  organs.  It  is  not  the  bones 
and  muscles  and  digestive  organs,  etc.,  which  produce 
the  offspring  of  the  new  individual,  but  the  reproductive 
cells,  or  germ  plasm,  which  grew  from  that  group  of  cells 
that  speciaUzed  in  this  direction  at  the  very  beginning 
of  the  process  of  cell  division  mentioned  a  moment  ago. 

Providing  for  Variation.  This  method  of  produc- 
ing new  individuals  would  not  be  very  successful  were 
it  not  for  further  specialization  of  reproductive  cells 
into  two  kinds,  male  and  female,  which  brings  about  the 
combination  of  many  Unes  of  ancestry  in  each  individual, 
and  so  makes  possible  an  infinite  number  of  variations 
within  the  species. 

How  stocks  converge  upon  the  individual  is  clearly 
seen  by  the  accompanying  diagram.  If  the  total  num- 
ber of  individuals  from  which  the  species  is  reproduced 
remains  confined  to  narrow  limits,  it  will  be  seen  how  the 
stock  will  run  out  for  lack  of  new  varieties.  The  nar- 
rower the  limits  of  ancestry,  the  more  completely  will 
the  offspring  resemble  one  another. 

The  immense  intermingUng  even  of  varied  stocks  in 


138 


CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 


a  species  results  in  considerable  similarity  of  offspring, 
and  maintains  a  community  of  interests  and  abilities, 
and,  therefore,  of  understanding,  that  would  not  be 
possible  if  each  stock  were  independent  of  every  other. 
There  is  a  certain  amount  of  original  nature  common  to 
all  individuals  of  the  species,  no  matter  what  their  stock 
may  be.     This  original  nature  represents  the  result  of 


Figure  11 
Convergence  of  stocks.     D  =  Male;  O  =*  Female 

the  conserving  process  spoken  of  at  the  beginning  of  the 
chapter.  Each  new  union  of  individuals  makes  possible 
a  new  combination  of  traits,  both  in  the  new  individual 
and  in  the  reproductive  possibilities  of  the  new  individual. 
Whatever  advantage  this  new  combination  gives  is 
conserved  in  the  stock,  therefore,  and  added  to  the  future 
possibilities  of  the  species.  The  result  is  that  each 
individual  is  both  new  and  old.  He  is  hke  his  stock  and 
his  species,  tending  to  differ  from  the  species  as  a  whole 


OUR  INHERITED  EQUIPMENT  139 

just  as  his  immediate  ancestry  differs  from  it,  and  tend- 
ing to  differ  from  either  Hne  of  ancestry  by  the  infusion 
of  traits  conspicuous  in  the  other. 

The  Meaning  of  Infancy.  As  traits  accumulate 
and  are  conserved  and  handed  on,  it  naturally  follows 
that  the  road  from  cell  to  complete  individual  gets 
longer  and  longer.  From  a  matter  of  hours  and  days, 
the  production  of  new  individuals  becomes  a  matter  of 
weeks  and  months  and  even  years.  Furthermore,  the 
longer  and  more  complicated  the  process,  the  fewer  the 
individuals  that  can  be  produced  by  a  single  parent,  and 
the  more  important  the  individual  offspring. 

At  the  same  time,  a  larger  and  larger  part  of  the 
individual  offspring's  growth  takes  place  in  separation 
from  the  mother,  in  direct  touch  with  the  environment. 
This  means  that  a  new  factor  is  introduced  into  the 
individual's  development.  Heretofore,  the  individual 
was  simply  the  thing  that  the  particular  combination  of 
ancestral  traits  made  him.  Now  what  he  is  depends 
upon  these  ancestral  traits  plus  the  influence  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  way  these  traits  develop.  This  in- 
fluence, however,  does  not  affect  the  reproductive  cells 
from  which  the  new  offspring  emerge,  so  the  new  offspring 
have  a  chance  to  develop  as  their  particular  environ- 
ment may  later  determine.  It  is  clear  that  the  individual 
who  has  the  largest  number  of  possibiHties  because  of 
his  long  and  varied  ancestry,  whose  structure  is  most 
comphcated  and  slowest  to  develop,  will  be  most  influ- 
enced by  the  environment  with  which  he  is  surrounded 
after  separation  from  the  parent. 

This  is  the  significance  of  human  infancy.  It  gives 
the  individual  a  chance  to  emerge  from  the  common  stock 
and  be  an  individual. 


140         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

Human  infancy  is  extended  over  many  years.  Com- 
pare the  length  of  time  required  to  make  a  dog  self- 
sufficient  with  the  time  required  to  make  a  child  self- 
sufficient.  Physical  maturity  is  not  reached  till  from 
eighteen  to  twenty-four  years.  Intellectual  maturity 
is  equally  long  in  developing.  Economic  infancy  varies 
from  fourteen  to  thirty,  and  political  maturity  is  set  at 
twenty-one.  And  this  extended  period  of  dependence 
is  made  significant  also  because  of  the  complexity  of 
the  child's  structure  as  compared  with  the  dog's.  The 
child  is  not  tied  down  to  a  few  types  of  action.  He  is 
equipped  to  behave  in  a  vastly  larger  variety  of  ways, 
and  these  various  ways  of  acting  can  be  combined  in 
an  infinite  variety  of  new  ways  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  experience.  How  few  tricks  one  can  teach  a 
dog!  That  is  all  he  can  learn.  But  we  have  not  yet 
reached  the  Hmit  of  man's  capacity  to  learn,  that  is,  to 
change  his  ancestral  equipment  into  something  different 
from  what  this  ancestry  alone  could  have  produced. 

Recapitulation.  We  have  been  saying  that  the 
stream  of  Hfe  passes  down  unbroken  from  one  generation 
to  the  next,  accumulating  new  structures  that  give 
advantage  to  the  individuals,  and  accumulating  pos- 
sibilities of  constantly  new  types  through  the  combina- 
tion of  all  sorts  of  old  types.  Obviously  the  changing 
structures  will  parallel  a  change  in  the  physical  habitat. 
As  outside  situations  change,  structures  will  be  conserved 
which  maintain  life  in  the  changing  situations.  It  is 
also  true  that  this  conserving  process  passes  on  into  new 
environments  the  structures  developed  previously  and 
suited  to  previous  environments.  These  lingering  struc- 
tures, unless  useful,  tend  to  dwindle  away  and  disappear. 
Some  of  them  are  hindrances,  such  as  toes  to  animals 


OUR  INHERITED  EQUIPMENT  141 

walking  on  the  ground,  and  wisdom  teeth  to  animals 
that  eat  cooked  food.  But  the  conserving  tendency 
is  strong,  and  what  once  functioned  in  maintaining  hfe 
is  apt  to  leave  vestiges  in  all  new  individuals.  Each 
individual  thus,  in  a  rough  way,  repeats  in  its  develop- 
ment the  process  through  which  animal  Ufe  has  passed. 
Resemblances  to  early  forms  of  Hfe,  such  as  fish,  can  be 
detected  in  the  human  foetus,  and  of  course  the  same 
traits  that  made  primitive  man  a  successful  hunter  and 
warrior  appear  in  children  and  men  and  women.  They  are 
present,  many  of  them,  in  many  other  species  besides  man. 

It  is  a  mistake,  however,  to  suppose,  as  some  do,  that 
this  repetition  of  ancestral  life  in  the  individual  is  any- 
thing more  than  a  way  of  growing.  The  individual 
has  to  grow  somehow,  and  at  many  points,  as  would  be 
expected,  his  growth  parallels  that  of  the  race  as  a  whole. 
At  other  points,  it  obviously  does  not.  It  is  impossible 
to  draw  any  conclusions  concerning  the  way  the  indi- 
vidual grows  from  a  study  of  the  way  the  race  has 
developed,  and  any  conclusions  concerning  race  develop- 
ment based  merely  upon  a  study  of  individual  develop- 
ment would  be  equally  unreUable.  There  is  no  necessary 
organic  relation  between  the  two.  Comparisons  are 
simply  analogies,  not  laws.  To  hold,  therefore,  that  the 
individual  must  necessarily  be  a  fish,  a  monkey  and  a 
savage  before  he  can  be  a  human  being  of  the  twentieth 
century  is  absurd  mythology.  He  has  to  be  a  child 
before  he  can  be  a  man,  but  he  is  a  man-child,  not  a 
frog-child.  And  the  only  way  to  find  out  how  he  grows 
from  a  child  into  a  man  is  to  watch  him  grow. 

What  is  Inherited.  What  is  it  that  is  passed  on 
from  generation  to  generation,  which  forms  the  raw 
material  that  meets  the  environment  and  is  changed  by 


142         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

it  into  human  as  distinct  from  animal  nature?  Briefly 
it  is  this:  Structures  or  organs,  and  organic  functions. 
The  various  organs  are  so  built  as  to  possess  definite 
functions  within  the  organism.  The  organism  as  a  whole 
has  definite  functions  in  relation  to  its  own  and  other 
species,  and  so  with  reference  to  life  as  a  whole.  In 
complex  animals  these  functions  are  performed  by  means 
of  specialized  organs  which  are  all  organized  together 
into  a  system  which  acts  in  an  organized  way.  This 
organized  action  is  made  possible  by  a  central  nervous 
system,  a  set  of  organs  (senses)  which  receive  and  trans- 
mit stimuH  from  without  and  from  within  the  organism 
to  the  central  system,  and  a  set  of  organs  (muscles) 
which  move  the  whole  body  or  parts  of  it  so  as  to  do  the 
thing  in  the  situation  which  we  have  described  as  the 
function  of  the  organism  as  a  whole.  That  from  which 
stimuli  come  to  the  sense  organs  is  called  the  situation, 
and  what  the  organism  as  a  whole  does  is  called  the 
response.  The  particular  neural  connections  in  the 
central  system  which  determine  that  this  or  that  response 
shall  be  made  in  any  situation  are  many  of  them  in- 
herited. When  the  connection  is  unalterable,  when  the 
response  is  invariably  the  same  and  is  not  controlled 
at  will,  the  response  is  called  a  reflex.  Sneezing,  wink- 
ing at  an  approaching  object,  are  examples.  When  the 
connection  is  inherited,  but  is  not  so  clear-cut  or  un- 
alterable, it  is  called  an  instinct.  Defending  oneself 
or  others  from  attack,  running  away,  and  eating  are 
examples.  Still  more  general  tendencies  to  behavior, 
representing  complex  connections  or  at  least  possibilities 
of  connections  in  the  central  system,  are  called  capacities, 
such  as  the  capacity  to  paint  pictures  or  to  learn  new 
ways  of  doing  things. 


OUR  INHERITED  EQUIPMENT  143 

These  responses  are  the  slow  accumulation  of  the 
adjustments  achieved  by  our  ancestors.  It  is  entirely- 
conceivable  that  we  could  make  a  complete  list  of  e very- 
possible  original  response  to  every  situation.  Such  a 
task  is  complicated  by  the  fact  that  inherited  responses 
are  so  soon  modified.  The  unmodified  responses  would 
constitute  the  original  nature  or  raw  material  out  of 
which  the  complex  unity  of  individual  life  is  built.  The 
unmodified  connections  and  tendencies  and  capacities 
are  all  that ''  nature  ^^  provides.  The  rest  is  the  product 
of  experience  in  a  world  of  things  and  men. 

It  is  important  that  those  who  are  to  control  the  child's 
education  should  know  what  the  original  equipment  of 
the  children  is  and  how  it  is  changed  into  the  equipment 
needed  for  modern  life.  The  process  of  learning,  or  of 
changing  original  tendencies,  will  be  the  problem  of  the 
next  chapter.  The  remainder  of  this  discussion  will  be 
devoted  to  calling  attention  to  some  of  the  more  impor- 
tant ways  of  behavior  which  we  can  count  upon  as  present 
in  all  children. 

Original  Tendencies.  The  most  complete  analysis 
that  has  been  made  of  this  inherited  equipment  is  found 
in  E.  L.  Thorndike's  Original  Nature  of  Man}  What 
follows  depends  upon  his  researches. 

A  brief  list  will  put  us  in  touch  with  the  sort  of  re- 
sponses a  child  makes  in  more  or  less  complete  form 
without  being  taught.  First  there  are  the  large  body 
movements,  placing  the  body  in  position  or  moving  it 
from  one  place  to  another:  sitting  up,  lying  down, 
standing,  walking,  running.  Then  there  are  movements 
of  the  body  itself  such  as  kicking,  scratching,  breathing, 
laughing,  crying,  making  noises,  reaching;    and  when 

>  Educational  Psychology.  Vol.  1. 


144         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

objects  are  grasped,  they  are  pounded,  shaken,  shoved, 
and  explored  with  eyes  and  fingers,  or  put  in  the  mouth, 
or  eaten,  or  concealed,  or  collected  with  other  Kke 
objects.  Moving  the  body  and  parts  of  the  body  comes 
as  the  response  to  certain  situations  in  which  the  in- 
dividual is  placed,  and  such  movements  are  made  in 
complex  combinations  which  can  best  be  described  as 
food  getting,  which  includes  hunting  or  chasing,  capturing, 
tearing,  eating;  shelter  getting,  which  includes  running 
to  cover,  hiding,  crouching,  lying  still,  burrowing, 
building;  defense,  which  includes  attacking,  running 
away,  warding  off  missiles,  and  a  host  of  responses 
usually  called  fighting  or  fear;  and  sex  behavior,  which 
is  not  prominent  before  adolescence. 

In  addition  there  are  other  responses  included  under 
such  general  heads  as  play,  a  complicated  response,  dis- 
cussed in  another  chapter ;  a  set  of  responses  to  persons, 
called  social  responses,  such  as  following  the  crowd, 
rivalry,  imitation;  and  certain  general  tendencies,  such 
as  the  tendency  to  change  the  original  responses  and  to 
develop  skill  not  present  in  original  nature,  the  tendency 
to  pick  a  situation  to  pieces,  and  to  respond  to  certain 
aspects  of  it;  the  tendency  to  get  sensations  and  to  be 
satisfied  with  mental  control  of  sensations  (frequently 
called  curiosity,  constructiveness  and  destructiveness, 
but  probably  not  thus  distinguished  in  original  nature) ; 
the  tendency  to  be  satisfied  when  an  instinctive  response 
is  successful  and  annoyed  when  it  is  not,  or  to  be  satisfied 
by  certain  sensations  or  conditions  and  annoyed  by 
others. 

Satisfiers  and  Annoyers.  These  satisfiers  and  an- 
noyers  are  so  important  as  guides  of  actions  and  as 
sources  of  desires  and  values  that  we  shall  have  to  look 


OUR  INHERITED  EQUIPMENT  145 

more  closely  at  them.  In  general  it  may  be  said  that 
any  act  which  brings  satisfaction  tends  to  be  repeated, 
and  any  act  which  is  annoying  tends  to  be  discontinued, 
or  avoided.  It  is  satisfying  to  do  what  the  organism  is 
ready  to  do,  and  it  is  annoying  to  be  kept  from  doing 
what  the  organism  is  ready  to  do  or  to  be  forced  to  do 
what  the  organism  is  not  ready  to  do.  For  a  dog  to  be 
kept  chained  when  he  wants  to  chase  a  cat  is  annoying, 
and  he  won't  let  himself  be  chained  if  he  can  help  it. 
But  to  chase  a  cat  is  a  great  satisfaction  —  unless  he 
gets  scratched,  in  which  case  he  may  be  less  precipitate. 
Since  satisfying  and  annoying  consequences  are  so 
influential  in  the  formation  of  habits  or  permanent 
tendencies,  it  is  important  to  know  what  sort  of  things 
independently  satisfy  and  annoy.  Thorndike  names 
the  following:  pain,  "  bitter  tastes,  the  sight,  touch  and 
smell  of  entrails,  excrement  and  putrid  flesh,  touching 
slimy  things,  depression  as  in  fear,  grief,  the  absence  of 
human  beings,  their  disapproving  behavior,  and  very 
intense  sensory  stimuli  of  all  sorts.'*  The  chief  inde- 
pendent satisfiers  are  "  sweet,  meaty,  fruity,  and  nutty 
tastes,  gUtter,  color  and  motion  in  objects  seen,  being 
rocked,  swung  and  carried  (in  childhood),  rhythm  in 
percepts  and  movements,  elation;  the  presence  of  human 
beings,  their  manifestations  of  satisfaction  and  their 
instinctive  approving  behavior."  "  Other  things  being 
equal,  to  have  sensations,  to  initiate  movements  and  to 
make  things  happen  are  satisfying.  .  .  .  Tendencies  to 
general  mental  activity  and  general  physical  activity 
(though  they  are  not  as  a  matter  of  fact  absolutely 
general)  when  given  exercise  satisfy,  and  when  denied 
exercise  annoy.  The  conduction  units  involved  in 
many  situation-response  series  also  in  due  time  '  crave 


146         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

exercise  '  —  that  is,  become  *  ready  to  act '  —  so  that 
imaging  or  thinking  may  become  as  true  a  want  as  food 
when  hungry,  or  capture  after  a  chase." 

"  On  the  whole  it  seems  best  to  assume,  subject  to 
further  knowledge,  the  truth  of  this  hypothesis  that 
any  state  of  affairs  is  originally  satisfying  which  lets  a 
conduction  unit  that  is  ready  to  conduct  do  so,  and  that 
any  state  of  affairs  is  originally  annoying  which  forces 
an  unready  conduction  unit  to  conduct  or  restrains  from 
conducting  one  that  is  in  readiness."  ^ 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY 

The  following  references  will  be  found  useful  if  the  reader  desires 
to  pursue  further  the  study  of  original  nature.  In  reading  these 
chapters,  these  problems  may  well  be  kept  in  mind : 

In  what  respects  is  a  man's  destiny  predetermined  by  his  heredity? 

What  social  values  have  resulted  from  the  fact  of  human  infancy? 

George  A.  Coe,  A  Social  Theory  of  Religious  Education,  Chap- 
ter X. 

E.  L.  Thorndike,  Education,  Chapter  IV. 

John  Fiske,  The  Meaning  of  Infancy. 

^Thorndike,  op.  cit,  p.  132. 


CHAPTER  X 
OUR  INHERITED  EQUIPMENT  (Continued) 
Nature's  Provision  for  Social  Living 

The  Organization  of  Tendencies.  All  these  ten- 
dencies we  have  been  describing,  when  added  together, 
do  not  make  human  nature  as  it  is.  The  first  responses 
are  determined  merely  by  the  inherited  mechanism,  but 
this  mechanism  is  at  once  changed  by  the  response  and 
its  effect,  so  that  the  next  time  the  same  situation  recurs, 
the  response  that  is  made  then  will  be  made  by  the 
changed  mechanism.  The  original  tendencies  are  mod- 
ified by  experience,  are  overlaid  by  habits,  are  never 
"  pure,"  as  we  see  them.  Yet  it  is  on  them  that  we 
build  when  we  teach  habits  of  any  kind. 

The  specific  responses  we  mentioned  are  important  or 
unimportant  according  to  our  interest,  or  the  interest 
of  the  individual  or  the  species.  They  do  not  exist  in 
the  body  in  classifications:  '^  self -preserving,"  "social," 
"  altruistic,"  and  so  on.  They  exist  piecemeal.  They 
are  the  deposits  of  generations  of  selective  adjustment. 
Some,  such  as  hunting,  are  inappropriate  to  modern 
ways  of  life,  though  at  one  time  they  served  to  give  an 
advantage  to  the  species  in  its  effort  to  keep  alive.  They 
have  accumulated  in  a  more  or  less  haphazard  way. 
They  are  tools,  these  instincts,  just  as  muscles  and  bones 
are  tools.  Muscles  and  bones  without  the  mechanism 
and  the  tendency  to  movement  in  the  presence  of  certain 
stimuli,  would  be  as  useless  as  the  paralyzed  limbs  of  the 
victim    of    poUomyelitis.    The    specific    tendencies    to 

147 


148         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

behavior  are  as  much  a  part  of  the  equipment  we  inherit 
as  are  our  hands  and  feet.  The  one  equipment  we  can 
see,  the  other  is  just  as  real,  but  is  hidden  away  in  the 
nerve  cells  of  brain  and  spinal  column.  The  microscope 
would  reveal  the  route  of  the  "  nerve  current  "  as  it 
proceeds  from  the  organs  of  sense  along  the  nerves  to  the 
sense  centers  of  the  brain,  is  distributed  among  co- 
ordinating centers,  passes  on  to  motor  centers,  releasing 
there  the  energy  that  is  transmitted  by  other  nerves  to 
the  muscles,  which  contract  and  relax  according  to  the 
signals.  It  is  an  extremely  complicated  and  wonderful 
process.  The  microscope  will  help  us  see  how  it  takes 
place,  but  it  will  not  show  why  it  takes  place.  This 
can  be  found  out  only  by  reference  to  the  interest  that 
the  act  serves,  and  this  interest  lies  beyond  the  act  and 
the  mechanism  which  makes  the  act  possible.  The 
explanation  of  the  chasing,  capturing,  tearing  and  de- 
vouring lies  not  in  this  series  of  acts,  but  in  the  situation 
in  which  these  acts  take  place  —  a  large  animal  hungry, 
a  small  animal  running  across  the  large  animal's  field  of 
vision.  The  relation  of  the  small  animal  to  the  large 
is  an  organic  one.  The  large  animal  has  evolved  in  a 
world  in  which  small  animals  constitute  food.  Hence 
the  equipment  or  mechanism  by  which  that  food  is 
secured. 

Almost  the  same  mechanism  will  be  used  when  the 
small  animal  is  forced  to  defend  itself  against  the  large 
animal.  It  runs,  it  turns  and  fights,  it  may  even  defeat 
the  enemy  and  chase  it  away.  But  here  the  reason  for 
the  use  of  the  equipment  is  different.  Or  an  animal  may 
pursue  its  prospective  mate,  using  the  same  equipment 
as  is  used  in  chasing  the  small  animal.  Again  the  ex- 
planation of  the  act  is  different.    In  the  one  case  the 


OUR  INHERITED  EQUIPMENT  149 

organism  is  "  set  "  to  eat,  in  the  second,  to  defend  itself, 
in  the  third,  to  mate.  These  organic  sets  correspond 
to  what  prove  to  be  necessary  functions,  or  behavior 
leading  to  necessary  results,  if  the  individual  and  the 
species  are  to  be  kept  aUve.  That  is,  those  species  not 
getting  sufficient  food  or  offspring  have  ceased  to  exist. 
Those  that  have  persisted,  do,  therefore,  have  mecha- 
nisms for  the  performance  of  these  fundamental  functions, 
which  for  convenience  we  may  call  biological  functions: 
nutrition,  defence,  shelter  and  reproduction.  Those 
responses  have  survived  and  are  transmitted  as  instincts 
which  have  enabled  the  individual  members  of  the  species 
to  perform  these  functions. 

Social  Instincts.  Our  original  responses  to  persons 
are  largely  for  the  performance  of  these  functions.  The 
parental  instinct,  or  helping,  fondling,  petting,  relieving, 
protecting  offspring,  or  anything  small  or  in  need; 
preferring  the  crowd,  or  gregariousness,  an  essential  pro- 
tection against  common  enemies;  cooperation  in  hunt- 
ing; all  these  are  related  to  defense,  food  getting  and 
reproduction  in  their  origin. 

There  are  many  other  responses,  however,  than  those 
immediately  concerned  with  the  preservation  of  life 
by  nutrition  or  fighting  that  have  accumulated  in  the 
course  of  evolution  as  by-products  or  secondarily  neces- 
sary acts.  It  is  original,  for  example,  for  a  child  to 
give  attention  to  human  beings,  to  turn  the  head  so 
that  another's  face  will  be  kept  in  view.  It  is  also 
instinctive  to  try  to  gain  the  mastery  over  another 
individual,  or  to  submit  to  another  who  is  recognized  as 
superior.  It  is  characteristic  of  human  nature  to  be 
pleased  with  another's  approval  and  to  be  annoyed  at 
another's  disapproval,  and  to  approve  or  disapprove  of 


150         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

others^  actions  by  some  gesture  or  expression.  Shyness 
or  hesitant  action  in  the  presence  of  strangers  or  num- 
bers; display  of  body  or  of  achievements;  rivaky,  or 
increased  vigor  of  action  in  the  presence  of  another  who 
is  engaged  in  the  same  act,  such  as  pursuing  an  object; 
envy,  or  the  desire  to  displace  another  who  is  enjoying 
a  desired  privilege,  such  as  the  mother's  lap;  teasing, 
bullying,  which  is  a  sort  of  combination  of  mastery, 
hunting,  scornful  behavior,  and  curiosity  as  to  results; 
greed  or  acquisitiveness;  and  imitation  or  satisfaction 
in  doing  as  others  do;  all  these  are  social  responses  that 
have  grown  up  as  the  result  of  age-long  associations 
among  individuals  of  the  same  species.  Some  are  de- 
sirable tendencies.  Some  are  undesirable.  The  child 
is  not  responsible  for  having  either  the  "  good  "  or 
"  bad  "  tendencies.  He  is  not  good  or  bad  because  he 
is  gentle  to  his  younger  sister  or  "  cruel  "  to  the  cap- 
tured fly.  He  is  what  nature  made  him.  Nature 
turns  him  over  to  society  to  do  what  it  likes  with  him. 
Society  can  make  the  original  nature  into  something 
good,  or  it  can  let  it  grow  up  into  something  which  will 
be  disowned  and  outlawed  by  the  very  forces  that  pro- 
duced it.  In  the  last  analysis,  it  is  the  mature  members 
of  society  who  are  responsible  for  the  sins  of  the  next 
generation.  The  sins  of  the  fathers  are  visited  upon 
the  children,  but  so  are  their  virtues. 

Helps  and  Hindrances.  Certain  of  the  social 
responses  are  more  important  than  others  in  rehgious 
education,  either  because  they  afford  the  foundation 
on  which  characteristically  Christian  behavior  is  built 
or  because  they  are  the  basis  of  typical  faults  that  have 
to  be  overcome. 
—  First  among  the  constructive  instincts  is  the  parental, 


OUR  INHERITED  EQUIPMENT  151 

or  the  tendency  to  respond  by  fondling,  petting,  caring 
for  persons  or  objects  which  are  small,  cute  or  conceived 
to  be  in  need.  This  tendency,  which  is  the  exact  oppo- 
site of  the  grabbing  and  teasing  responses,  is  one  of  the 
earUest  to  appear  and  one  of  the  strongest.  Mother- 
love,  utterly  forgetful  of  self,  leads  to  the  highest  reaches 
of  service  and  sacrifice.  It  is  the  gentle  prompting  that 
leads  the  child  to  care  tenderly  for  dolls  and  dogs  and 
tramps.  It  is  the  only  basis  there  is  for  filial  affection, 
which  is  nothing  more  than  the  child's  own  parental 
instinct  stimulated  by  the  parents'  need,  whether  real 
or  imagined. 

Like  most  instincts,  parental  responsiveness  is  an 
impulse  or  general  tendency  rather  than  a  complete 
set  of  acts  for  every  possible  situation.  The  instinct 
is  blind.  The  hen  will  sit  on  glass  eggs  as  dutifully  as 
on  her  own.  Mothers  will  feed  their  babies  on  coffee 
as  fondly  as  on  milk,  and  quiet  them  with  candy  from 
the  same  impulses.  No  instinct  uninformed  is  com- 
petent to  deal  with  modern  complex  social  situations. 
On  the  great  constructive  instincts  must  be  built  intelh- 
gent  habits  which  will  provide  adapted  channels  through 
which  the  underlying  forces  of  human  life  can  flow  in 
regulated  and  useful  streams  rather  than  in  the  chaotic 
and  destructive  torrents  of  unschooled  passion  and 
impulse. 

Probably  the  next  most  significant  social  response 
is  the  sensitiveness  to  approval  and  disapproval  by  others 
coupled  with  the  instinctive  approval  or  disapproval 
of  others.  Here  we  have  the  basis  in  original  nature  of 
much  that  is  characteristically  human.  Pubhc  opinion 
becomes  an  educational  force,  or,  as  we  say,  a  moral 
force,  because  people  are  sensitive  to  the  opinion  of 


152         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

others.  Coupled  with  the  tendency  to  find  satisfaction 
in  doing  as  others  do,  this  conforming  force  becomes  a 
tremendous  civilizing  power.  Custom  and  conscience 
find  here  their  roots.  Standards  of  action  are  social 
products,  and  God  is  the  judge  of  conduct,  the  personified 
conscience,  the  embodiment  of  the  ideal,  who  approves 
and  disapproves,  and  whose  judgments  are  a  great  deep. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  greed,  bullying,  the  tendency  to 
display,  fighting  propensities,  envy  and  sex  interests 
get  children  and  youth  into  difficulties.  But  to  be 
forewarned  is  to  be  forearmed,  and  our  educational 
procedure  must  make  provision  for  bringing  all  anti- 
social tendencies  under  control. 

The  Roots  of  Religion.  In  none  of  the  lists  of  the 
specific  tendencies  of  original  nature  will  we  find  a 
rehgious  instinct,  such  as  the  instinct  to  fight  an  attack- 
ing animal  or  to  eat  when  hungry.  Yet  we  are  in  the 
habit  of  saying  that  all  men  are  religious.  It  is  not  a 
man's  acts,  however,  that  make  him  religious,  such  as 
saying  prayers,  kneeling,  going  to  church,  doing  Red 
Cross  work.  It  is  rather  a  man's  dissatisfaction  with 
his  acts,  in  contrast  with  his  imagination  of  what  those 
acts  might  be  and  might  accomplish,  and  his  effort  to 
change  his  acts  so  that  they  will  conform  to  this  ideal  or 
carry  out  this  purpose.  This  tendency  to  idealize  and 
organize  Hfe  is  part  of  our  original  equipment.  But  it  is 
not  a  separate  and  specific  response  to  a  specific  situa- 
tion. It  is  rather  one's  total  response  to  the  total  situa- 
tion made  possible  by  the  organizing  power  of  the  mind, 
which  sees  the  whole  and  which  controls  and  organizes 
its  own  relation  to  the  whole. 

We  are  interested  in  the  religious  life  of  children.  We 
are  interested,  therefore,  in  the  use  the  mind  makes  of 


OUR  INHERITED  EQUIPMENT  153 

the  physical  equipment  that  has  been  caught  out  of  the 
stream  of  hfe  into  the  little  whirling  eddy  we  call  the 
individual. 

5,  The  characteristic  activity  of  mind  is  to  choose;  the 
characteristic  of  rehgion  is  to  choose  the  ideal,  the  not- 

^ yet-realized.  The  basis  of  choice  is  experience.  The 
thing  idealized  is  an  experience.  Experience  is  de- 
termined by  the  tendencies  of  human  nature  operating 
in  the  association  of  individuals.  In  human  beings, 
experience  is  originally  and  always  social.  The  fact 
of  human  association  puts  a  premium  on  what  we  called 
the  "  social  responses."  Other  things  being  equal,  the 
individual  that  is  responsive  to  other  persons  but  weak 
in  his  responsiveness  to  things  and  animals  will  get  along 
better  than  an  individual,  who,  though  strong  in  his 
responsiveness  to  things  and  animals,  is  weak  in  his 
responsiveness  to  human  beings.  Value  is  set  on  social 
relations,  and  it  is  these  social  experiences  that  are 
idealized  and  made  the  basis  of  organizing  purposes. 
Mind  extends  the  scope  and  range  of  action  both  in 
space  and  time,  and  religion  is  mind  at  work  upon  the 
problem  of  securing  a  permanent,  universal,  unified, 
ideal  social  experience,  an  ideal  society. 

Our  religious  life  grows  out  of  and  makes  use  of  our 
original  capacities.  But  something  is  going  to  be 
idealized  and  made  dominant  in  Ufe.  As  teachers,  let 
us  see  to  it  that  this  something  is  big  and  positive  and 
constructive.  This  biggest  thing  in  our  human  equip- 
ment we  shall  probably  find  to  be  the  parental  instinct. 
Let  us  build  on  this,  make  it  grow  and  reach  outward  and 
upward  till  kindness  and  justice  and  love  shall  become 
the  all-inclusive  force  in  the  divine  human  society  of 
which  we  are  a  part. 


154         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY 

1.  What  part  should  Eugenics  play  m  a  program  of  social  recon- 
struction? 

2.  What  effect  will  the  entrance  of  women  into  poUtical  and  in- 
dustrial life  have  upon 

a.  Human  institutions  such  as  the  home? 

b.  Human  progress  as  determined  by  institutions  such  as  the 

home? 

3.  What  do  you  think  should  be  done  with  mental  defectives? 

4.  What  relation  has  the  size  of  a  family  to  the  significance  of 
human  infancy? 

5.  How  are  the  problems  discussed  in  this  chapter  related  to  the 
problems  of  economic  readjustment  such  as  the  minimum  wage, 
child-labor  laws,  working  conditions,  compensation,  insurance, 
widows'  pensions,  industrial  democracy? 


CHAPTER  XI 

MAKING  OVER  HUMAN  NATURE 

Factors  in  the  Educational  Process 

Nature's  Provision  for  Education.  Among  the 
tendencies  that  man  inherits  is  the  tendency  of  all  his 
tendencies  to  cooperate  in  securing  greater  and  more 
permanent  satisfactions.  Original  equipment  provides 
for  changing  itself  in  the  direction  indicated  by  satisfac- 
tions that  come  from  the  operation  of  this  equipment 
in  a  human  environment.  What  this  human  environ- 
ment does,  therefore,  to  promote  this  or  that  individual 
satisfaction  in  the  younger  members  of  the  group  is  of 
supreme  importance.  It  is  out  of  these  satisfactions 
that  the  individual's  values  come,  and  consequently 
his  ideals  and  motives. 

Original  nature  thus  provides  for  its  own  development, 
for  its  own  evolution.  When  human  nature  becomes 
conscious  of  the  fact  that  it  can  influence  itself,  and 
change  itself  in  this  or  that  direction,  and  provides  the 
means  for  making  this  change,  we  have  what  we  call 
education,  or  "  conscious  evolution,"  to  use  Davidson's 
phrase.  On  the  one  side  we  have  what  the  child  is 
born  with,  his  inherited  tendencies  and  capacities,  the 
push  of  the  race,  welhng  up  within  him,  urging  him  on 
to  do  something,  to  reach  out  and  grasp  and  conquer 
the  new  world.  These  tendencies  and  capacities  form"^ 
the  raw  material  of  growth  and  education  in  religion 
just  as  in  everything  else.    But  no  single  racial  push  or^ 

155 


156  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

combination  of  impulses  makes  a  man  religious.  There 
is,  on  the  other  side,  the  self-conscious  factor,  the  pur- 
poses and  ideals  and  ideas  of  action.  This  factor  is 
developed  through  experience.  The  individual,  to  be 
sure,  has  a  tendency  to  be  conscious,  to  have  ideas  and 
ideals,  else  he  would  have  none;  but  what  these  ideas  and 
ideals  are  depends  not  upon  his  physical  heredity,  but 
upon  his  experience  among  men.  There  is  a  social 
as  well  as  a  physical  heritage.  There  is  a  racial  pull 
as  well  as  a  racial  push.  Just  as  the  achieved  instincts 
and  tendencies,  physically  transmitted,  are  the  raw 
material  of  impulses,  so  the  achieved  culture  of  the  race, 
transmitted  by  human  fellowship,  is  the  raw  material 
of  the  individual's  ideas  and  ideals.  Education  is  a 
way  of  controlHng  and  molding  original  nature  by  the 
ideals  of  the  race,  so  that  the  vital  elements  of  civiliza- 
tion are  transmitted  to  each  succeeding  generation. 

We  have,  then,  these  two  factors,  the  child  with  his 
physical  heritage  and  society  with  its  cultural  heritage. 
The  child  grows  by  bringing  to  this  social  environment 
his  original  equipment,  which  works  upon  and  absorbs 
and  contributes  to  this  racial  culture.  Apart  from  life 
in  the  institutions  of  society,  the  home,  the  school,  the 
state,  the  church,  and  industry,  there  is  no  individual 
life  and  growth.  The  individuals  of  each  generation 
emerge  from  the  racial  stock  and  from  the  social  milieu 
into  which  they  are  born.  They  may  emerge  only  partly 
and  reproduce  faithfully  the  life  of  their  fathers,  becom- 
ing conventional,  provincial  replicas  of  a  limited,  hide- 
bound caste  or  class  or  community.  They  may  emerge 
completely,  building  on  the  world's  experience,  and 
becoming  free  citizens  of  the  world,  and  prophets  of  a 
new  social  order. 


MAKING  OVER  HUMAN  NATURE       157 

The  Value  of  Infancy.  The  great  difference  be- 
tween men  and  animals  lies  in  just  this  capacity  to  be- 
come superior  to  inherited  equipment,  to  change  old 
ways  of  doing  things  and  make  new  ones.  As  was  sug- 
gested in  the  preceding  chapter,  it  takes  a  long  time  to 
make  these  changes,  much  longer  than  to  make  a  bee  or 
a  butterfly  or  a  bird.  The  human  being  gets  its  chance 
in  its  long  infancy,  and  its  chance  is  measured  by  the 
education  which  is  provided  for  it.  Were  the  infant 
not  physically  helpless,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  it  would 
have  secured  the  training  necessary  to  give  it  control  of 
the  experience  of  the  race.  Even  the  wolf  puppy  asso- 
ciates with  its  parents  long  enough  to  learn  to  do  as 
they  do,  and  so  to  conserve  such  adjustments  as  have 
not  been  built  into  the  inherited  mechanism.  The 
parents  are  the  first  teachers,  because  they  are  the  care- 
takers. 

The  physical  helplessness  of  children'"  thus  automati- 
cally makes  available  a  personal  environment  which  is 
fairly  continuous  and  sympathetic  and  helpful.  The 
effect  of  this  on  original  equipment  is  of  the  utmost 
importance,  for  it  tends  to  give  social  direction  to 
original  tendencies,  to  cultivate  the  parental  or  tender 
reactions  to  the  exclusion  of  the  coarser  and  more  brutish. 
Family  life  at  its  best  is  the  norm  and  source  of  all  social 
education  and  organization  and  the  type  of  ideal  social 
relations.  And  here  we  find  also,  in  brotherhood  and 
fatherhood  and  sonship,  the  ground-work  of  the  rehgion 
of  Jesus. 

The  Contribution  of  Culture.  It  is  clear,  then, 
that  human  nature  is  provided  by  heredity  with  the 
tendency  and  the  mechanism  for  changing  itself  into 
something  nearer  to  its  heart's  desire;  that  the  nature  of 


158         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

the  changes  that  take  place  depends  upon  the  environ- 
mental influences  brought  to  bear  upon  the  individual 
during  his  long  infancy;  and  that  these  determining 
influences,  when  consciously  controlled  by  society,  are 
called  "education."  Just  what  does  education  do? 
How  does  it  work?  How  is  original  nature  changed? 
There  are  four  specific  contributions  made  by  racial 
culture  to  the  individual,  which  society  makes  more  or 
less  specific  according  to  the  degree  to  which  education 
is  organized:  habits  and  skills;  information  and  ideas; 
desires,  ideals,  and  motives;  and  attitudes.  These  are 
necessary  in  controlling  social  relations  as  well  as  in  the 
use  of  things.  We  do  not  want  occasional  and  fortuitous 
successes  in  morality.  We  want  people  to  do  and  say 
the  right  thing  at  the  right  time  every  time.  We  all 
Hke  children  when  they  are  good.  The  high  levels  of 
spiritual  life  of  which  all  children  are  capable  should 
somehow  be  made  permanent.  This  can  be  done  only 
by  developing  knowledge  of  what  to  do  and  skill  in  the 
doing.  It  is  not  enough  to  know  in  a  general  way  that 
one  should  help  his  neighbor.  The  tactless  but  well- 
intentioned  person  who  intrudes  and  says  the  wrong 
thing  we  all  know.  Courtesy  is  more  than  an  ideal. 
It  is  a  way  of  doing  things.  Prayer  is  something  that 
requires  skill  in  the  doing. 

So  we  need  not  only  ideals  and  motives  but  the  moral 
machinery  for  carrying  them  out. 

Another  type  of  moral  machinery  is  acquaintance 
with  the  social  institutions  by  which  Christian  ideals 
are  being  expressed  in  the  life  of  society:  the  church, 
the  machinery  of  legislation,  local,  state  and  national; 
societies  for  the  improvement  of  conditions,  such  as  the 
S.   P.   C.   A.,  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee, 


MAKING  OVER  HUMAN  NATURE       159 

mission  boards,  charity  organization  societies,  town 
improvement  societies.  All  these  must  be  known  not 
only  by  hearsay  but  through  membership  and  coopera- 
tion. So  only  can  the  children  be  equipped  for  reUgious 
living.  A  small  girl  overheard  her  mother  turn  away  a 
tramp  from  the  door,  explaining  that  she  had  no  money 
for  him.  "  Oh,  mother,"  cried  the  little  girl,  "  don't 
send  him  away.  See,  I  have  some  money  for  him.'* 
And  she  brought  out  her  small  savings  to  be  handed  to 
the  tramp.  She  had  not  been  provided  with  the  moral 
machinery  for  carrying  out  her  good  purpose.  She  did 
not  know  that  there  was  a  cooperative  association  in 
the  city  for  ministering  to  the  needs  of  indigent  strangers, 
through  which  she  could  work  much  more  effectively 
than  as  an  individual  with  a  few  pennies  to  give  away. 
And,  lacking  this  information  and  this  contact  with 
society,  the  girl  was  prevented  from  being  as  rehgious 
as  she  was  capable  of  being. 

Let  us  take  up  these  four  factors  involved  in  making 
over  human  nature  —  action,  thinking  and  worship, 
somewhat  briefly,  and  motives  more  extensively  in  the 
next  chapter. 

1.    Action 

,  Our  chief  work  as  teachers  of  religion  is  to  develop 
wholesome  religious  activity.  As  a  type  of  this  sort  of 
work,  take  the  Boy  Scouts  or  the  Camp  Fire  Girls. 
Their  peculiar  contribution  is  that  they  represent  relig- 
ion at  work  in  the  world  instead  of  religion  a  spectator 
of  the  world.  Each  class  has,  first  of  all,  to  be  an  active 
rehgious  group,  Uving  and  working  together  for  the 
common  good.  We  used  to  think  of  the  class  as  a  group 
of  docile  goody-goodies  who  Ustened  reverently  to  the 


160         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

teacher  while  she  discoursed  on  spiritual  themes  and 
told  them  to  be  good.  But  we  have  recovered  from 
that.  We  realize  now  that  the  business  of  the  church 
school  is  to  help  make  the  community  Christian  by 
establishing  within  itself  a  Christian  community.  If 
the  churches  are  to  contribute  to  the  establishment  of  a 
Christian  democracy,  they  will  have  to  begin  at  home  by 
making  their  own  government,  their  own  methods  and 
their  own  educational  work  democratic. 

Whatever  phases  of  religious  life  we  emphasize  in 
class,  it  is  essential  to  remember  that  the  universal 
method  of  learning  is  in  and  through  activity,  both 
physical  and  mental,  and  that  the  younger  the  pupils 
are  the  more  closely  must  learning  be  associated  with 
muscular  activity  at  the  moment  of  learning. 

This  does  not  mean  that  a  pupil  should  never  sit  still 
and  listen.  The  trouble  is  that  this  sitting  still  and 
listening  has  been  the  sum  and  substance  of  religion  to 
most  people.  Relaxation  is  all  right  in  the  right  place. 
But  the  essential  ideals  of  religion  have  so  long  been 
associated  with  passivity  and  relaxation  that  the  Chris- 
tian religion  finds  insufficient  means  of  expressing  it- 
self, and  breaks  out  in  forms  of  action  that  have  been 
developed  for  other  purposes,  as  war,  for  example.  Re- 
figion  is  frequently  anemic  because  people  are  expected 
to  be  passive  in  the  presence  of  religious  ideals,  instead 
of  actively  engaged  in  realizing  these  ideals  in  construc- 
tive social  endeavor.  We  may  not  learn  war,  nowa- 
days, but  we  turn  to  war  as  a  means  to  our  ends  because 
we  have  not  thoroughly  learned  peace. 

It  is  commonly  held  that  there  must  be  some  stimulus, 
whether  arising  within  the  body  or  without,  for  every 
act  the  child  does.     It  is  this  belief  which  leads  to  the 


MAKING  OVER  HUMAN  NATURE       161 

naming  of  these  acts  "  responses  '*  and  to  the  method  of 
interpreting  all  acts  in  terms  of  the  situations  in  which 
they  arise.  One  does  not  fear  in  general;  he  fears 
something.  The  only  way  to  affect  a  child's  acts  is  to 
do  something  that  will  serve  as  a  stimulus  capable  of 
eliciting  a  response.  We  cannot  act  directly  upon  the 
child's  motor  centers.  We  can  act  only  on  his  environ- 
ment. Can  we  expect  a  child  to  become  habitually 
loving,  helpful  and  cheerful  if  there  is  nothing  in  his 
environment  to  which  love,  helpfulness  and  good  cheer 
are  the  child's  natural  reactions?  How  can  we  expect  a 
child  to  become  Christian  unless  we  provide  him  with  a 
Christian  environment?  We  may  find  ourselves  as 
teachers  frequently  obliged  to  be  a  Christian  community 
for  the  child,  and  to  provide  in  our  own  persons  a  con- 
stant source  of  stimulation  for  the  sort  of  action  we  desire 
to  have  become  habitual  in  those  whom  we  teach. 

Religious  Action.  The  church  school  has  been 
peculiarly  subject  to  the  notion  of  learning  without 
doing  on  account  of  its  cultural  heritage.  It  has  a 
double  tradition  of  passivity  behind  it,  one  educational 
and  one  religious,  so  that  it  is  peculiarly  hard  for  it  to 
think  of  religious  education  in  terms  of  growth  through 
activity.  When  it  does  get  a  little  activity  into  its 
machinery  it  is  added  on  without  being  built  into  the 
structure  of  the  system.  We  have  added  certain  forms 
of  handwork  to  the  curriculum,  for  example,  but  the 
curriculum  itself  has  remained  for  the  most  part  un- 
changed. 

We  should  probably  agree  that  among  religious  acts 
would  be  included,  objectively  considered,  praying, 
helping  one  another,  and  promoting  justice  and  good 
fellowship.     How  then  are  we  to  promote  skill  in  these 


162         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

types  of  action?  We  want  a  child  to  develop  religious 
habits.  Very  well,  what  stimuli  are  we  providing  to 
call  forth  from  him  religious  responses?  What  influences 
do  we  surround  him  with?     Let  us  see. 

If  he  is  a  Primary  child,  he  comes  to  the  church  school, 
sings  a  few  pretty  songs  in  a  room  that  is  supposed  to 
be  bright  and  cheery.  Teacher  tells  him  a  nice  story. 
He  pastes  a  picture  in  a  book,  then  sings  a  good-bye 
Bong  and  goes  home.  Sometimes  he  sings  a  song  to 
welcome  a  new  pupil  or  to  recognize  a  birthday.  If  it  is 
his  own  it  costs  him  six  to  eight  cents  —  but  never  mind : 
those  two  songs  constitute  the  essentially  religious 
part  of  that  program.  Next  Sunday  he  does  it  over 
again.  Does  this  recurring  situation  tend  to  call  forth 
rehgious  acts  and  fix  them  in  useful  habits?  We  need 
stories  and  lessons,  of  course,  but  let  us  not  overestimate 
their  effect.  A  dream  world,  peopled  with  fairies  and 
filled  with  castles  and  cool  woods,  is  all  very  well  for  a 
child  of  fortune,  but  it  is  a  poor  substitute  for  a  good 
mother  or  a  square  meal  or  a  bit  of  green  grass  or  a  warm 
garment.  We  may  tell  the  children  stories  of  love  and 
friendship  and  helpfulness  for  an  hour  on  Sunday,  but 
if  they  get  nothing  but  blows  and  toil  and  lonehness  all 
the  week,  what  is  the  use?  Forgetfulness?  Yes,  but 
it  is  not  so  much  our  stories  that  they  need  as  it  is 
just  ourselves,  and  the  type  of  life  for  which  we  as 
Christians  are  supposed  to  stand. 

In  Schools  of  Tomorrow  there  is  a  description  of  how  a 
single  interest  was  pursued  by  a  class  of  day-school 
children  throughout  the  year. 

"  In  the  fifth  grade,  class  activities  were  centered  around  a  bunga- 
low that  the  children  were  making.  The  boys  in  the  class  made  the 
bungalow  in  their  manual  training  hours.     But  before  they  started 


MAKING  OVER  HUMAN  NATURE        163 

it  every  pupil  had  drawn  a  plan  to  scale  of  the  house,  and  worked 
out,  in  their  arithmetic  period,  the  amount  and  cost  of  the  lumber 
they  would  need,  both  for  their  own  play  bungalow  and  for  a  full 
sized  one;  they  had  done  a  large  number  of  problems  taken  from  the 
measurements  of  the  house,  such  as  finding  the  floor  and  wall  areas 
and  air  space  of  each  room,  etc.  The  children  very  soon  invented 
a  family  for  their  house  and  decided  they  would  have  them  live  on  a 
farm.  The  arithmetic  work  was  then  based  on  the  whole  farm. 
First,  this  was  laid  out  for  planting,  plans  were  drawn  to  scale  and 
from  information  the  children  themselves  gathered  they  made  their 
own  problems,  basing  them  on  their  play  farm:  such  as  the  size  of 
the  corn  field,  how  many  bushels  of  seeds  would  be  needed  to  plant 
it;  how  big  a  crop  they  could  expect,  and  how  much  profit.  The 
children  showed  great  interest  and  ingenuity  in  inventing  problems 
containing  the  particular  arithmetical  process  they  were  learning 
and  which  still  would  fit  their  farm.  They  built  fences,  cement 
sidewalks,  a  brick  wall,  did  the  marketing  for  the  family,  sold  the 
butter,  milk  and  eggs,  and  took  out  fire  insurance.  When  they  were 
papering  the  house,  the  number  of  area  problems  connected  with 
buying,  cutting,  and  fitting  the  paper  were  enough  to  give  them  all 
the  necessary  drill  in  measurement  of  areas. 

"  English  work  centered  in  much  the  same  way  around  the  build- 
ing of  the  bungalow  and  the  life  of  its  inhabitants.  The  spelling 
lessons  came  from  the  words  they  were  using  in  connection  with  the 
building,  etc.  The  plans  for  the  completed  bungalow,  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  house  and  the  furnishings,  or  the  Hfe  of  the  family  that 
dwelt  in  it,  furnished  inexhaustible  material  for  compositions  and 
writing  lessons.  Criticism  of  these  compositions  as  they  were  read 
aloud  to  the  class  by  their  authors  became  work  in  rhetoric;  even 
the  grammar  work  became  more  interesting  because  the  sentences 
were  about  the  farm. 

"  Art  lessons  were  also  drawn  from  the  work  the  children  were 
actually  doing  in  building  and  furnishing  the  house.  The  pupils 
were  very  anxious  that  their  house  should  be  beautiful,  so  the  color 
scheme  for  both  the  inside  and  outside  furnished  a  number  of 
problems  in  coloring  and  arrangement.  Later  they  found  large  op- 
portunities for  design,  in  making  wall-paper  for  the  house,  choosing 
and  then  decorating  curtains  and  upholstery.  Each  pupil  made 
his  own  design,  and  then  the  whole  class  decided  which  one  they 


164         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

wanted  to  use.  The  pupils  also  designed  and  made  clay  tiles  for 
the  bathroom  floor  and  wall,  and  planned  and  laid  out  a  flower 
garden.  The  girls  designed  and  made  clothes  for  the  doll  inmates  of 
the  house.  The  whole  class  enjoyed  their  drawing  lessons  im- 
mensely because  they  drew  each  other  posing  as  different  members 
of  the  family  in  their  different  occupations  on  the  farm.  The  work 
of  this  grade  in  expression  consisted  principally  in  dramatizations 
of  the  Ufe  on  the  farm  which  the  children  worked  out  for  themselves. 
Not  only  were  the  children  "  learning  by  doing  "  in  the  sense  that 
nearly  all  the  school  work  centered  around  activities  which  had 
intrinsic  meaning  and  value  to  the  pupils,  but  most  of  the  initiative 
for  the  work  came  from  the  children  themselves.  They  made  their 
own  number  problems;  suggested  the  next  step  in  the  work  on  the 
house;  criticized  each  other's  compositions,  and  worked  out  their 
own  dramatizations."  * 

Have  we  anything  equivalent  to  this  in  religious  educa- 
tion? One  near  approach  to  it  is  the  practise  followed 
in  some  of  the  older  classes  in  the  Union  School  of  Relig- 
ion. It  has  become  the  custom  to  search  the  neighbor- 
hood for  opportunities  of  service,  utilizing  the  city  in- 
stitutions as  far  as  possible.  The  Charity  Organization 
Society  is  asked  for  the  names  of  families  who  need  help. 
The  class  picks  out  one  that  appeals  to  it  and  assumes 
certain  responsibilities  toward  it  for  the  winter  months, 
such  as  supplying  food  and  clothing,  rent,  work  for  the 
boys,  visiting  the  family  regularly  and  becoming  as 
friendly  as  possible  with  the  members.  One  class  took 
the  mother  and  children  on  a  picnic  and,  while  they 
were  gone,  a  committee  of  the  class  got  a  big  lunch  ready 
for  them  to  eat  when  they  returned.  Although  the  girls 
had  worked  hard  to  get  it  and  were  hungry,  they  refused 
to  eat  any  of  the  lunch,  but  waited  on  Mrs.  H.  and  the 
children  and  left  all  that  they  did  not  eat,  refusing  to 

1  John  and  Evelyn  Dewey,  Schools  of  Tomorrow,  pp.  74-77.    Published  by  E.  P. 
Dutton  &  Co. 


MAKING  OVER  HUMAN  NATURE        165 

take  anything.  But  this  family  served  as  the  center  of 
social  interest  all  winter  long,  and  out  of  the  experi- 
ences that  came  to  the  girls  in  being  neighbors  to  them 
came  many  discussions  of  social  problems  that  would 
have  been  abstract  and  uninteresting  if  taken  up  simply 
as  a  lesson  to  be  studied. 

This  is  typical  of  what  we  must  do.  We  must  make 
the  life  of  the  class  one  with  the  hfe  of  the  community, 
estabUsh  areas  of  cooperation,  make  this  our  chief  work, 
building  our  instruction  upon  the  pupils'  immediate 
experience  of  social  problems. 

Furthermore,  enterprises  involving  the  whole  group 
afford  opportunities  for  training  in  good  fellowship. 
Children  must  learn  to  get  along  together  not  by  sitting 
still  together  under  the  thumb  of  the  teacher,  but  by 
doing  things  together  —  things  which  require  leadership, 
loyal  cooperation,  sympathy,  forbearance.  These  things 
cannot  be  learned  by  talking  about  them  or  by  telhng 
stories  about  them.  They  must  be  observed  and  prac- 
tised and  made  desirable  and  necessary  for  the  promo- 
tion of  a  happy  group  hfe. 

Perhaps  it  is  clear  by  now  that  what  we  need  is  not 
simply  better  text-books,  not  simply  better  handwork, 
not  simply  a  few  good  deeds  called  social  service,  but 
rather  an  entire  reorganization  of  the  school  as  a  group 
of  clubs  or  societies  engaged  actively  in  cooperating  with 
the  individuals  and  institutions  of  the  community  for 
common  social  ends. 

Just  as  the  farmer  needed  his  children,  so  we  need 
them,  though  for  a  higher  purpose,  and  we  must  recognize 
them  as  an  asset  in  our  reUgious  hfe.  They  have  con- 
tributions to  make  to  the  welfare  of  the  community, 
real  contributions,  and  by  making  these  contributions 


166         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

they  will  become  conscious  that  they  are  a  part  of  the 
community. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

1.  If  you  have  ever  been  a  teacher,  when  did  you  learn  most 
easily,  quickly  and  thoroughly  the  thing  you  taught,  while  you 
were  a  student,  or  after  you  became  a  teacher?  Why?  What 
bearing  has  your  answer  on  the  problem  of  learning  ideas  of  Christian 
behavior? 

2.  Can  you  suggest  ways  in  which  the  school  work  could  be  ar- 
ranged so  that  the  children  would  have  opportunity  to  learn  to  do 
the  things  a  Christian  should  be  able  to  do  by  doing  them?  Or 
should  they  do  such  things  outside  of  school  hours?  What  part  has 
the  home  to  play  in  Christian  education? 

3.  Suggest  a  project,  analagous  to  the  building  of  the  bungalow, 
that  might  serve  as  a  unifying  class  interest  in  reUgious  education 
throughout  a  year. 

4.  Read  William  James'  Chapter  on  Habit  in  his  Talks  to  Teachers 
or  in  his  Psychology,  Briefer  Course.  How  does  what  he  says  apply 
to  religion? 

5.  On  the  promotion  of  acts  of  service  the  following  books  will  be 
found  helpful: 

W.  N.  Hutchins,  Graded  Social  Service  for  the  Sunday  School. 
R.  E.  Diffendorfer,  Missionary  Education  in  Home  and  School. 


CHAPTER  XII 

MAKING  OVER  HUMAN  NATURE  {Continued) 

2.    Thinking 

The  Functional  View  of  Thinking.  So  far,  we 
have  been  considering  that  phase  of  activity  which  can 
be  seen.  But  there  is  another  phase,  quite  as  important, 
which  cannot  be  seen,  which  we  call  thinking.  Think- 
ing is  simply  action  become  conscious,  or  action  which 
has  a  conscious  element  in  it.  It  is  awareness  of  what 
we  are  doing.  It  is  not  something  other  than  the  doing, 
for  without  the  doing  there  would  be  no  thinking  in 
any  true  sense.  The  doing  and  the  thinking  constitute 
one  process  of  adjustment  between  an  individual  and  a 
situation.  Thinking  is  intelligent  action,  action  which 
foresees  its  own  consequences  and  which  makes  constant 
changes  in  its  course  because  of  these  foreseen  conse- 
quences. Thinking  is  "  being  alive,"  as  Dewey  says, 
moving  forward,  going  somewhere,  changing  things  in- 
stead of  being  changed  by  them. 

Unfortunately,  the  well-meant  effort  to  bring  activity 
into  the  day  schools  and  church  schools  has  usually 
neglected  this  aspect  of  activity,  which  gives  it  its 
essentially  human  quality.  It  was  thought  enough  to 
have  the  children  do  things.  Tasks  were  "  assigned," 
work  "required."  They  were  told  what  to  do,  but 
not   why  they   did  it.    This  is  of  course  abnormal. 

167 


168  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

It  is  not  what  the  children  will  have  to  do  when  they 
are  grown  up  and  have  to  decide  things  for  themselves. 
Such  activity  involves  no  thinking  at  all  and  has  no 
particular  relation  to  the  formation  of  character  even 
when  the  activity  itself  may  be  social  service.  It  is 
external  to  the  will  of  the  child  and  in  engaging  in  it  he 
is  a  mere  automaton.  His  motive  is  desire  for  approval, 
to  please  the  teacher,  fear  of  punishment  or  hope  of 
reward  in  the  shape  of  marks,  pins,  or  prizes. 

IntelUgence  in  a  child  is  not  different  from  intelligence 
in  an  adult.  It  means  having  a  purpose  and  trying  to 
carry  it  out  by  organizing  one's  acts  as  means  to  that 
purpose  as  an  end.  It  means  that  one  must  foresee 
what  is  hkely  to  happen  and  choose  the  course  of  action 
that  moves  in  the  direction  of  the  desired  goal.  Hence 
arise  difficulties  and  problems  which  make  study  neces- 
sary, an  investigation  of  all  the  facts  that  bear  on  the 
case,  experiments  in  one  direction  or  another,  the  re- 
making of  one's  plan  of  action,  the  achievement  of  one's 
end,  and  the  achievement  of  an  increment  of  wisdom. 
Growth  in  character  involves  growth  in  the  capacity 
to  think  and  that  requires  practise  in  thinking,  which 
means  practise  in  the  adaptation  of  means  to  self -chosen 
ends.  The  value  of  the  building  of  the  bungalow,  which 
was  described  above,  is  now  seen  more  clearly.  The 
children  had  something  to  do  which  was  interesting  in 
itself,  a  real  job,  not  a  make-believe  one.  It  was  just 
the  thing  children  would  do  outside  of  school.  It  was 
their  own  life  they  were  Uving,  not  another's.  And 
in  the  course  of  construction  they  found  real  need  for 
many  facts  of  arithmetic  and  art  and  English  which 
they  now  had  a  motive  for  learning.  They  could  see 
their  use,  their  relation  to  the  ends  they  were  pursuing. 


MAKING  OVER  HUMAN  NATURE        169 

They  simply  had  to  know  these  things  in  order  to  ac- 
complish their  growing  purpose. 

The  Place  of  Thinking  in  Religion.  Without 
entering  upon  the  consideration  of  the  technic  of  think- 
ing, which  there  is  not  space  to  discuss,  let  us  suggest 
the  place  of  thinking  in  religion.  Character  is  not  a- 
thing.  It  is  a  process,  a  going  on,  a  way  of  meeting 
life's  situations.  It  might  be  called  a  tendency  to  grow 
wise,  that  is,  to  think,  and  to  think  always  more  ade- 
quately, foreseeing  the  consequences  of  action  and  choos- 
ing those  hues  of  action  that  will  accomplish  our  purposes. 

But  what  about  these  purposes?  Where  do  they  come 
from  and  how  do  we  decide  which  to  follow?  We  have 
opposing  purposes  or  desires  leading  us  in  opposite 
directions.  The  vacillating  individual,  who  follows 
now  one  purpose,  now  another,  lacks  something  of  the 
stabiUty  we  feel  belongs  to  the  highest  type  of  character. 
His  purposes  are  not  harmonious.  His  hfe  is  not  or- 
ganized. He  has  no  supreme  purpose  controlHng  all 
the  rest.  He  does  not  consider  ultimate  consequences, 
but  thinks  rather  of  the  consequences  of  each  isolated 
activity  he  may  be  engaged  in,  or  thinks  only  of  the 
consequences  to  himself.  We  all  know  the  type  of  man, 
now  happily  growing  scarcer,  that  in  private  hfe  and 
church  hfe  is  all  that  we  could  ask  for  in  kindness, 
gentleness  and  generosity,  but  who  in  business  or  pro- 
fessional life  follows  the  relentless  policy  of  cut-throat 
competition,  paying  starvation  wages,  requiring  long 
hours  and  employing  children  to  do  the  work  of  adults. 
There  is  no  doubt  but  that  this  successful  man  thinks. 
But  he  thinks  only  about  means.  The  ends  he  is  pursu- 
ing, or  the  consequences  they  entail,  do  not  occupy  his 
attention.     The  values  he  stands  for  in  private  hfe, 


170         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

good-will,  kindness,  fairness,  he  repudiates  in  public 
life.  He  is  an  unorganized  or  divided  personality. 
He  has  failed  to  think  about  the  ultimate  consequences 
of  his  acts  and  to  harmonize  his  life  in  accordance  with 
some  purpose  which  he  has  dehberately  chosen  to  follow 
because  he  deems  it  to  be  the  highest  for  him. 

When  a  man  brings  his  purposes  into  his  thinking, 
weighs  carefully  the  relative  value  of  possible  ends  of 
action  and  the  probable  consequences  of  action,  and  then, 
with  his  whole  soul,  follows  that  line  of  action  which 
will  most  worthily  accomplish  what  seems  to  him  to 
be  the  best,  then  that  man  is  religious.  If  the  purpose 
he  follows  is  the  Christian  purpose  and  if  the  means 
he  employs  conform  to  Christian  standards,  then  he  is 
Christian. 

An  illustration  may  help  to  make  clear  the  place 
thinking  should  occupy  in  our  class  work. 

The  present  typical  method  of  teaching  a  lesson  is  to 
bring  out  some  specific  quality,  such  as  generosity,  that 
the  hero  or  heroine  displays,  and  to  arouse  enthusiasm 
for  the  possession  of  that  quahty.  Beyond  the  fact 
that  it  is  hard  to  get  enthusiastic  over  the  achievement 
of  an  abstract  quaUty,  it  should  be  noted  that  what  we 
are  chiefly  studying  here  is  not  character,  but  the  use  of 
the  English  language.  We  name  a  way  of  behaving 
and  then  presume  that  the  name  has  some  power  over 
the  behavior.  In  analyzing  qualities  we  get  no  further 
than  names  of  ways  of  behaving. 

Now  as  we  have  seen,  the  very  essence  of  intelligence 
is  the  foreseeing  of  consequences.  Suppose,  then,  in- 
stead of  emphasizing  one  or  another  of  the  many  estima- 
ble quaUties  a  hero  possesses,  we  go  at  the  thing  more 
naturally.     Let  us  ask  what  the  hero  does,  why  he  does 


MAKING  OVER  HUMAN  NATURE        171 

it,  and  what  effect  it  has  on  everybody  concerned. 
What  did  Joseph  do  ?  That  is  what  the  children  are 
interested  in.  Why  did  he  do  it?  What  happened  in 
consequence,  to  his  father,  brothers,  and  the  Egyptians? 
Were  those  consequences  desirable?  Did  they  depend 
on  his  acting  the  way  he  did  or  would  they  have  hap- 
pened anyway?  Was  it  worth  while  for  Joseph  to  have 
done  what  he  did? 

And  then,  we  must  make  the  daily  experiences  and 
problems  of  the  pupils  the  basis  of  our  work.  They 
must  be  taught  to  analyze  their  own  problems:  What 
situations  do  they  meet  that  are  hke  the  situation  Joseph 
was  in?  In  what  various  ways  can  they  meet  those 
situations?  What  will  be  the  probable  effect  of  each 
way?  Which  is  the  best  way?  How  can  we  actually 
get  this  way  of  acting  put  through?  That  is,  let  us 
make  plans  to  carry  out  this  specific  purpose  to  get  a 
specific  effect  or  consequence;  for  example,  to  rehabili- 
tate a  poor  family;  that  is  what  Joseph  did!  Then 
comes  the  discussion  of  success  or  failure. 

As  far  as  possible  there  must  be  developed,  as  the  basis 
of  thought  and  planning,  a  class  life,  including  the 
activity  on  Sunday  and  activity  during  the  week.  The 
class  must  become  conscious  of  what  it  is  doing  as  a 
part  of  the  community.  The  real  social  problems  must 
come  to  the  attention  of  the  pupils  in  natural  ways,  by 
walks  and  visits  and  discussions  of  what  others  have 
seen  and  done.  Whatever  means  the  class  can  command 
must  be  used  to  solve  or  help  solve  these  problems. 
Here  is  where  the  pupil's  money  comes  in.  The  class 
should  be  using  this  money  to  carry  out  its  own  purposes. 
They  must  find  for  themselves  the  occasions  for  spending 
it  and  they  must  decide  for  which  of  the  many  possible 


172         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

causes  they  will  spend  it.     Otherwise,  the  giving  is  not 
a  factor  in  character  development. 

We  cannot  insist  too  strongly  on  the  place  of  thinking  \ 
in   all  the   child   does.     Mere   activity   is   stultifying. 
Mere  discussing  and  planning  is  morally  debihtating. 
Without  intelligent  action,  growth  in  character  will  be^j 
due  to  influences  outside  the  church-school  teaching. 


3.  Worship 

Worship  and  Character.  In  our  discussion  of  the 
place  of  thinking  in  religion,  we  have  already  pointed 
out  that  successful  thinking  is  purposive  thinking,  and 
that  stability  of  character  implies,  not  simply  the  abihty 
to  think  out  how  to  carry  out  miscellaneous  purposes, 
but  also  the  possession  of  a  supreme  purpose  which 
controls  and  harmonizes  life.  Christian  character  imv 
phes  more  than  the  performance  of  customary  Christian 
practises;  it  implies  also  insight  into  the  relation  of\ 
these  practises  to  the  Ufe  of  the  world,  or  to  God's  will 
or  kingdom,  and  the  conscious  attempt  to  organize  life 
in  harmony  with  this  will  or  kingdom. 

This  insight  and  consecration  does  not  generally  come 
by  doing  deeds  even  when  these  deeds  are  done  skil- 
fully and  thoughtfully.  There  is  needed  also  reflection 
upon  deeds  and  upon  their  relation  to  the  will  of  God. 
This  contemplative  phase  of  experience,  in  which  the 
individual  will  meets  and  recognizes  the  universal  Will 
and  seeks  to  become  identified  with  it,  we  call  worship. 
In  such  moments  the  details  of  instruction  and  of  human 
relationships  are  brought  into  consciousness  together 
with  God  himself,  so  that  the  light  of  his  personahty 
is  shed  over  the  whole  of  hfe,  and  the  inertia  of  society 


MAKING  OVER  HUMAN  NATURE        173 

as  we  know  it  and  live  it  is  overcome  by  the  momentum 
of  this  ideal  society  of  which  we  become  conscious  in 
worship.  Without  this  experience  or  its  equivalent, 
no  individual  attains  to  the  level  of  organization  and 
power  that  is  possible  for  him  at  his  stage  of  develop- 
ment. During  the  early  years  of  hfe,  when  fragmentary 
experiences  are  beginning  to  be  understood,  and  when 
untrained  impulses  are  first  coming  under  the  control 
of  ideals  and  hard-won  purposes,  it  is  of  fundamental 
importance  that  the  organizing  and  stimulating  function 
of  worship  should  be  recognized  as  an  indispensable 
educational  force. 

The  Cultivation  of  Christian  Attitudes  through 
Worship.  As  has  already  been  suggested,  the  pecuhar 
contribution  worship  makes  to  life  is  in  the  realm  of 
feelings,  attitudes,  purposes.  Religion  has  to  do  with 
the  purposive  organization  of  life.  It  is  the  process  by 
which  the  mind  is  constantly  reset,  redirected,  pointed, 
oriented,  with  reference  to  what  is  happening  to  it. 
Our  hearts  are  set  on  many  things.  The  absence  of 
rehgion  means  that  these  many  values  are  competing 
with  one  another  for  mastery.  They  are  not  cooperating 
with  one  another  in  an  organized  system  with  a  com- 
mon, superior  value  at  the  top  which  is  the  desire  to 
desire  the  best,  whatever  this  may  prove  to  be.  In  the 
Christian  religion  we  feel  that  this  best  is  the  will  of  God. 
Hence  we  seek  to  know  and  do  his  will. 

Now  in  worship  we  are  not  so  much  concerned  with 
the  means  by  which  our  purposes  shall  be  accompKshed 
as  we  are  with  the  fundamental  values  in  relation  to 
which  we  form  our  purposes.  We  stop  our  business  for 
the  moment  to  consider  what  we  are  doing  and  why  we 
are  doing  it.     We  give  our  attention  to  the  values  we 


174  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

imagine  ourselves  to  be  seeking,  so  that  these  may  freshly 
take  possession  of  us,  and  may  cheer  us  on  our  way  when 
we  return  to  the  daily  routine.  We  cannot  be  con- 
stantly thinking  of  our  ultimate  purposes  in  every  least 
act.  When  I  sit  at  my  desk  I  cannot  give  my  thought 
constantly  to  the  exact  contribution  my  work  is  making 
to  the  progress  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  This  would 
make  me  self-conscious  and  inhibit  my  thinking.  And 
yet  some  such  interpretation  of  my  work  I  occasionally 
need  so  as  to  keep'  it  going.  This  occasional  falling 
back  upon  or  reaching  up  to  the  values  that  I  confidently 
believe  to  be  present  in  my  work  is  worship.  Here 
I  get  my  mind  set  toward  the  proper  ends  of  life.  I 
acquire  attitudes  which  carry  through  my  action  and 
my  thinking.  I  feel  about  things,  rather  than  critically 
analyze  things.  I  see  things  in  wholes.  I  get  perspec- 
tive, and  vision,  and  motive;  for  in  worship  I  reahze 
intensely  myself,  my  fellows,  and  God,  and  the  meaning 
of  this  fellowship  in  our  common  human  experience. 

In  private  worship  we  usually  leave  to  chance  the 
decision  of  what  feelings  are  to  be  aroused.  But  public 
worship  requires  leadership,  and  wherever  there  is 
leadership  there  is  control  and  guidance.  Our  prob- 
lem as  leaders  is  to  exercise  this  control  intelligently  and 
to  accomplish  through  worship  the  sort  of  results  that 
are  natural  to  worship  and  that  contribute  definitely 
to  Christian  character.  Some  feelings  are  going  to  be 
aroused  in  real  worship.  We  must  see  to  it  that  these 
feelings  are  Christian. 

What  are  the  feelings  that  characterize  the  Christian 
religion?  For  most  of  us,  the  all-inclusive  Christian 
attitude  is  love,  the  taking  of  another's  interest  as  one's 
own,  or  in  its  largest  sense,  the  will  to  work  for  the  wel- 


MAKING  OVER  HUMAN  NATURE        175 

fare  of  the  world  in  the  consciousness  that  in  so  doing 
one  is  making  common  cause  with  the  purpose  of  God 
supremely  manifested  in  Jesus.  How  love  shall  express 
itself  depends  upon  circumstances.  But  there  are 
certain  universal  attitudes  that  make  for  the  fulfilment 
of  love  in  our  ordinary  human  relations,  and  these  atti- 
tudes we  desire  to  have  become  habitual.  By  what- 
ever names  we  call  them,  they  will  include  these  five: 
gratitude,  good-will,  reverence,  faith  and  loyalty. 
These  are  the  attitudes  that  determine  the  direc- 
tion of  our  thought  and  action  so  that  the  details  of 
experience  move  constantly  toward  the  Christian  pur- 
pose. Equipped  with  these  fundamental  mental  "sets  " 
we  are  freed  from  the  control  of  unchristian  impulses 
and  can  devote  ourselves  fully  to  the  working  out  of 
the  Christian  purpose  in  human  relationships,  through 
our  thinking  and  our  action. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

1,  What  is  the  difference  between  a  desire  and  an  ideal?  Where 
do  ideals  come  from?    What  sort  of  ideals  do  children  have? 

2.  How  do  you  find  out  what  problems  children  actually  face? 
How  do  you  help  children  see  what  their  problems  really  are? 

-  3.  Read  F.  M.  McMurry,  How  to  Study,  Chapter  III,  and  apply 
this  method  to  your  next  church-school  lesson,  showing  how  you 
would  help  your  pupils  to  learn  how  to  study  properly. 

4.  From  your  own  experience  of  worship,  what  do  you  regard  as 
its  value  for  you?  What  effect  does  worship  have  on  you,  at  the 
moment  of  worship  and  afterwards? 

5.  Outline  your  own  church-school  opening  exercises  and  answer 
these  questions: 

(1)  Is  there  a  spirit  of  worship? 

(2)  What  is  the  aim  of  the  exercises? 

(3)  Is  there  either  instruction  or  training  in  worship  during  the 
exercises  or  at  some  other  time? 


176         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

(4)  What  religious  ideas  are  prominent  in  the  hymns  sung? 
Are  these  ideas  characteristic  of  wholesome  reUgious  Hfe  in  children? 

On  thinking,  see  John  Dewey,  How  We  Think,  and  John  and  Eve- 
lyn Dewey,  Schools  of  Tomorrow. 

On  worship,  see  the  author's  Manual  for  Training  in  Worship. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MOTIVES 

The  Fourth  Factor  in  the  Educational  Process 

In  the  fifth  chapter  of  Matthew  there  is  a  defense  of 
a  religion  of  faith.  In  the  second  chapter  of  James 
there  is  a  defense  of  a  religion  of  works.  ^  Jesus  was  not 
trying  to  behttle  good  acts.  He  was  sick  of  seeing  good 
acts  turned  out  wholesale  as  the  purchase  price  of  per- 
sonal advantage.  How  many  passages  bear  out  this 
insistence  upon  purity  of  heart:  the  whited  sepulcher, 
the  cup  clean  outside,  but  dirty  on  the  inside,  "  out 
of  the  heart  come  forth  evil  thoughts,  murders,  thefts, 
raihngs."  A  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits,  to  be  sure,  but 
a  thorn  does  not  bear  figs.  The  man  is  of  more  impor- 
tance than  what  he  does,  though  what  he  does  is  in 
part  an  indicator  of  what  he  is. 

It  is  not  simply  what  a  man  does,  that  counts  in  a 
world  that  is  made  up  of  human  beings.  Being  some- 
body is  more  than  doing  something.  The  external, 
overt  act  is  only  part  of  the  total  spiritual  fact  which 
constitutes  the  unit  of  fellowship.  How  hollow  is  the 
friendship  that  is  built  up  around  conventional  courte- 
sies, rendered  without  personal  regard,  but  because  of 
the  demands  of  "  society."  How  futile  is  the  charity 
of  the  rich  proffered  out  of  a  full  purse,  from  a  passing 
sense  of  duty  without  fellow-feeling;  or  in  mere  good 
nature.     How  often  the  machinery  of  organized  relief 

»  Matt.  5  :  8.  22,  28.     James  1  :  27;   2  :  14-26. 

177 


178         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

"^    crushes  and  maims  the  souls  of  those  for  whom  it  is 
manufacturing  philanthropy. 

^  After  all,  relief  is  a  poor  blessing,  justified  in  part 
when  it  is  an  incident  of  friendship,  but  a  ghastly  carica- 
ture of  the  Christian  spirit  when  it  is  not  likewise  an 
incident  in  the  Christian  demand  for  justice  between 
men,  for  the  sake  of  men,  a  demand  which  should  find 
expression  not  in  more  charity  machinery,  but  in 
such  social  and  political  changes  as  will  make  charity 
\ increasingly  unnecessary. 

What  are  Motives?  We  frequently  say,  ''His  mo- 
tives were  mixed. '^  Or  we  ask,  ''  What  were  his  ulterior 
motives?  "  We  imply  that  a  person  often  has  more 
than  one  reason  for  doing  things.  We  are  in  the  habit 
of  classifying  these  reasons  as  ''  selfish  '^  and  "  un- 
selfish," or  as  "  seK-regarding  "  and  "  seK-denying  " 
or  "  other-regarding."  What  we  mean  is  that  there  are 
two  main  inducements  for  any  sort  of  action  to  which  all 
motives  can  be  reduced,  namely,  the  thought  of  one's  own 
advantage,  and  the  thought  of  some  one  else's  advantage. 

Are  our  motives  thus  capable  of  being  classified  and 
reduced?  Or  is  this  attempt  to  pigeonhole  our  motives 
artificial,  an  abstraction  from  real  Hfe? 

In  our  discussion  of  thinking,  it  was  suggested  that 
intelligent  action  was  action  undertaken  in  the  Hght  of 
foreseen  consequences.  It  is  these  foreseen  consequences 
that  are  the  true  motives  of  one's  action.  When  we  act 
without  foreseeing  or  expecting  consequences,  we  act 
without  motive,  or  blindly,  Hke  a  machine. 

Motives  as  Foreseen  Consequences.  We  are 
interested  in  many  different  kinds  of  consequences, 
some  more  clearly  defined  than  others.  Frequently 
we  get  interested  in  one  consequence  and  forget  about 


MOTIVES  179 

or  do  not  foresee  other  consequences  which  follow  from 
the  same  act.  We  get  to  thinking  about  how  good  it 
would  feel  to  go  in  bathing  some  hot  day,  and  we  forget 
that  a  cold  dip  right  after  dinner  is  fraught  with  danger. 
Or  we  go  in  in  the  morning,  when  we  feel  hot,  and  then 
cannot  go  in  in  the  afternoon  with  all  the  rest,  because 
the  doctor  says  once  a  day  is  enough.  In  each  case, 
the  immediate  sensuous  satisfaction  was  the  conse- 
quence which  was  effective  in  getting  us  to  act ;  in  the 
first  place,  in  spite  of  possible  danger  to  health,  and  in  the 
second  place,  in  spite  of  the  greater,  but  postponed, 
satisfaction  of  going  in  with  the  rest. 

Why  was  one  consequence  foreseen,  rather  than  the 
other,  or,  if  both  were  foreseen,  why  did  we  take  one 
rather  than  the  other?  We  know  some  people  who 
would  always  consider  the  immediate  satisfaction  of  the 
senses  as  of  more  consequence  than  health.  Others 
would  usually  prefer  the  immediate  pleasure  to  post- 
ponement for  the  sake  of  being  sociable.  What  is  the 
difference  between  these  individuals  and  those  who 
would  postpone  immediate  satisfaction  for  the  sake  of 
health  or  sociabihty?  And  is  the  one  type  using  higher 
motives  than  the  other?  If  so,  can  we  get  the  "  higher  " 
motives  to  operate  instead  of  the  "  lower  "? 

Two  things  are  involved :  First,  foreseeing  other  conse- 
quences than  merely  those  that  are  obvious;  second, 
preferring  or  choosing  consequences  of  one  sort  rather 
than  another.  Can  we  train  children  to  look  for  conse- 
quences and  to  prefer  one  sort  rather  than  another? 
If  we  can,  then  we  can  train  their  motives,  as  well  as 
their  external  behavior. 

Let  us  begin  by  thinking  of  "  consequences  "  as  the 
results  of  activities  or  enterprises.     Instead  of  classify- 


180         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

ing  consequences  as  selfish  and  unselfish,  let  us  forget 
all  about  self,  and  think  of  what  that  self  is  doing.  Do 
children,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  stop  to  choose  between 
acts  which  will  bring  pleasure  to  themselves  rather  than 
to  others,  or  do  they  rather  follow  out  certain  lines 
of  behavior  in  which  they  happen  to  be  engaged,  without 
regard  to  consequences  to  either  self  or  others?  They 
do  not  stop  and  say,  '^  Go  to  now,  I  will  get  my  soldiers 
out  because  that  will  bring  me  happiness."  They  say: 
"  I  will  get  my  soldiers  out  for  a  great  battle.''  If 
you  try  to  force  an  answer  other  than  this  simple  conse- 
quence, they  will  say:  ^' Just  because  I  want  to." 
Unless  already  spoiled  by  unwise  teaching,  the  child  is 
not  intent  on  seeking  his  own  happiness,  but  on  follow- 
ing out  certain  interests,  whithersoever  they  may  lead 
him.  What  is  the  important  thing  to  him?  Neither 
his  own  nor  any  one  else's  happiness,  but  the  enterprise;^ 
and  consequences  are  foreseen  and  chosen  or  set  aside 
because  of  their  relation  to  this  enterprise.  Such  mo- 
tives are  pure  in  the  best  sense. 

But  this  Purity  of  Motive  is  Usually  Destroyed. 
We  adults  come  along,  and  by  our  punishments  and 
rewards  we  get  the  poor  little  duffers  thinking  not  about 
things  to  do,  and  bigger  and  smaller  enterprises,  but 
about  their  own  happiness  or  unhappiness,  or  their  own 
pleasure  or  pain,  and  then,  when  we  have  distorted  their 
motives  by  forcing  them  prudently  to  consider  what 
effect  a  deed  has  upon  their  pleasure,  we  try  to  correct 
the  fault  by  persuading  them  that  pleasure  is  to  be  found, 
not  by  seeking  it  for  oneself,  but  by  seeking  it  for  others, 
and  so  we  substitute  a  "  higher  "  seH-regard,  which 
deliberately  chooses  to  serve  because,  by  serving,  one 
can  attain  temporary  or  eternal  bhss. 


MOTIVES  181 

This  procedure  is  neither  natural,  nor  necessary  for 
the  achievement  of  social-mindedness.  It  deliberately 
makes  for  the  type  of  anti-social  or  individualistic 
mindedness  that  causes  trouble  in  adolescence,  when  the 
boy  or  girl  "  wakes  up  "  to  find  that  he  has  been  a  selfish 
animal,  and  in  the  throes  of  a  conversion  experience 
tries  to  undo  in  five  minutes  the  bad  effects  of  fifteen 
years  of  misguided  teaching.  It  is  a  good  deal  to 
expect. 

What  is  the  alternative?  In  general,  it  is  this :  Keep 
his  attention  upon  enterprises,  rather  than  upon  "  mo-^ 
tives  ";  or  upon  social  consequences  rather  than  upon  his 
own  states  of  mind;  and  engage  him  in  activities  that 
will  call  into  exercise  his  own  potentialities  and  that  will 
lead  into  the  great  human  enterprises  which  are  themselves 
the  end  to  he  achieved  by  men.  Teach  the  children  to  seek 
first  the  Kingdom,  and  to  find  their  satisfaction,  not  in 
the  "  added  things/'  hut  in  the  life  of  the  Kingdom  itself. 

The  Growth  of  Motives.  With  very  young  chil- 
dren, the  motives  for  activity  lie  naturally  within  the 
activity  itself.  They  do  not  see  beyond  their  play 
anything  that  is  being  accomplished  by  it.  The 
mother  does,  however.  She  sees  the  relation  of  this 
play  to  the  winning  of  necessary  muscular  coordinations 
and  habits  of  self-control.  The  child  sees  only  the 
activity.  It  has  no  "  consequences  "  for  him.  It  just 
is.  But  gradually  his  plays  grow  more  complex.  He 
takes  his  nest  of  blocks  apart  and  later  puts  the  blocks 
together.  Then  he  puts  them  on  top  of  one  another  in 
constantly  more  varied  ways,  seeking  constantly  more 
distant  ends.  Even  these  units,  such  as  "  playing 
blocks,"  "  playing  dolls,"  get  taken  up  into  larger 
enterprises:    he  builds  a  house  for  his  dolls  with  his 


182         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

blocks,  and  does  things,  therefore,  with  his  blocks  that 
the  blocks  alone  would  not  have  suggested  to  him. 
He  sees  both  blocks  and  dolls  as  part  of  a  larger  whole: 
building  a  doll's  house.  This  new  synthesis  later  com- 
bines with  other  interests,  and  he  will  perhaps  set  up 
housekeeping  with  his  dolls,  developing  all  sorts  of  new 
activities  which  grow  right  out  of  the  old,  and  which  now 
constitute  the  motive  for  the  lesser  and  contributory 
activities  such  as  handling  the  blocks. 

In  a  similar  way,  the  child  begins  as  a  member  of  a 
social  unit,  the  family.  Little  by  little,  as  he  partici- 
pates in  the  family's  life  and  becomes  conscious  of  it, 
we  want  him  to  feel  that  this  immediate  activity  is 
just  part  of  a  bigger  enterprise,  which  includes  the  first. 
So  with  his  day  school  and  his  church  school,  and  his 
clubs  and  his  unorganized  relationships.  The  bigger 
enterprise  gradually  absorbs  them  all  and  constitutes 
the  motive  for  them  all.  This  all-inclusive  social  enter- 
prise is  the  Christian  cause,  the  kingdom  or  common- 
wealth or  democracy  of  God.  It  is  this  that  the  teacher 
sees  from  the  beginning.  To  help  the  child  participate 
in,  and  fit  himself  more  perfectly  for,  this  last  and  biggest 
thing  is  the  teacher's  aim.  As  soon  as  the  pupil  reaches 
the  point  where  he  sees  what  he  does  as  a  part  of  this 
world  movement,  his  aim  and  the  teacher's  are  the 
same.  Each  class  session  becomes  then  a  cooperative 
effort  to  contribute  something  to  this  enterprise  or  to 
achieve  some  bit  of  skill  or  information  which  is  needed 
for  larger  and  more  effective  work  elsewhere. 

Developing  Motives  through  Activity.  Instead  of 
trying  to  persuade  our  pupils  to  be  ''  generous,"  "  un- 
selfish," "  thoughtful "  and  the  hke,  let  us  see  how  we 
can  engage  them  in  the  right  sort  of  action,  utiHzing 


MOTIVES  183 

at  each  step  the  appeal  to  the  instincts  which  are  by 
nature  socially  directed,  and  making  this  appeal  not 
by  preaching  but  by  presenting  actual  situations  re- 
quiring social  adjustment,  and  by  directing  attention 
to  the  consequences  that  appeal  to  these  same  instincts. 
Any  particular  kind  of  situation  after  a  while  develops 
a  selected  response,  or  habit.  This  in  time  becomes 
modified  by  attention  to  consequences  until  a  specific 
skill  results.  When  this  particular  kind  of  response  is 
formulated  and  accepted  as  the  desired  response  for 
other  Uke  situations,  it  becomes  an  ideal.  When  sup- 
ported by  definite  social  sanctions,  this  ideal  becomes 
"  duty.'^ 

The  Basic,  Enduring  Motives  are  Instinctive, 
but  are  in  Need  of  Modification.  We  can  depend  in 
the  long  run  upon  the  parental  instinct  to  get  a  particu- 
lar habit  or  interest  started.  But  we  cannot  depend  on 
the  instinct  to  guide  us  in  emergencies.  Uninformed 
mothering  does  not  cure  disease,  though  those  who  study 
how  to  cure  disease  may  be  prompted  to  do  so  because 
of  the  instinct  to  care  for  those  in  trouble.  We  depend 
on  the  desire  for  approval  and  the  annoyance  of  disap- 
proval to  get  acts  going  which  otherwise  we  cannot  start. 
But  as  a  permanent  motive  this  is  unsatisfactory  as  it 
stands.  Whose  approval  is  to  be  sought?  Discrimina- 
tion among  approvers  must  be  taught.  The  desire  to 
do  what  others  are  doing  is  a  strong  tendency  in  young 
children  and  often  must  be  called  into  play  in  getting 
them  started  doing  things  which  will  later  develop  in- 
herent motives.  The  child  takes  part  in  family  prayers 
at  first  just  because  the  rest  do.  Professor  Coe  gives 
a  charming  instance :  A  child  who  had  learned  to  count 
up  to  eight  joined  with  the  family  when  they  repeated 


184         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

the  Lord^s  Prayer  by  counting  "  one,  two,  three,  —  " 
up  to  eight,  repeating  the  performance  till  the  prayer 
was  ended.  She  was  prompted  to  do  this  by  her  desire 
to  be  "  in  the  game,"  but  this  desire  alone  could  not 
provide  her  with  the  necessary  forms  of  cooperation. 
These  have  to  be  learned. 

It  is  equally  true  that  to  foresee  consequences  and 
let  foreseen  consequences  get  in  their  work  on  our 
instincts  and  acquired  habits  and  interests  takes  time. 
In  emergencies  we  have  frequently  to  fall  back  on  the 
habits  already  acquired  as  giving  form  to  responses 
appropriate  to  similar  situations,  or  upon  the  sense  of 
duty  that  bolsters  up  parental  instinct  as  against  the 
instinct  of  self-defense,  and  calls  into  play  the  skill, 
if  we  have  it,  necessary  for  rescuing  the  child,  assuming 
leadership  of  the  crowd,  or  merely  maintaining  silence 
and  a  "  cool  head  "  long  enough  to  analyze  the  situation, 
if  there  is  time  to  do  so. 

Resume.  These  then  are  the  sources  of  action: 
Instincts,  pushing  up  within  us,  providing  us  with 
tendencies  to  behavior  and  with  promptings  or  readi- 
nesses to  types  of  behavior;  acquired  interests,  based 
on  instincts  and  representing  the  combination  of  various 
instincts  and  capacities  developed  in  specific  channels, 
and  constituting  acquired  tendencies  and  promptings 
or  readinesses  to  particular  forms  of  behavior;  ideals, 
including  "  duty,"  being  formulations  of  desired  be- 
havior, and  bringing  to  bear  the  pressure  of  a  real  or 
ideal  society  upon  the  conduct  of  the  moment. 

And  these  tendencies,  general  and  specific,  are  called 
into  play  both  by  the  immediate  stimulus  and  by  the 
imagined  consequences  of  imagined  action. 

What  do  we  desire  for  our  children,  then?    Simply 


MOTIVES  185 

gradual  enlistment  in  the  great  human  enterprises  and 
interests:  in  family,  school,  church,  industry  and  state; 
in  art,  science,  literature,  reHgion  and  organized  life;  in 
the  pursuit  and  the  practise  of  world-wide  democracy 
in  education,  in  industry,  in  art  and  in  politics;  and  in 
the  reUef  of  distress.  This  means  development  to  the 
full  of  special  capacities  or  interests,  as  well  as  coopera- 
tion with  others  in  practical  affairs.  And  all  this 
cooperation  and  this  development  of  capacity  is  for  the 
sake  of  the  common  good.  This  is  the  consequence  to 
which  we  wish  to  make  constant  appeal  and  this  conse- 
quence must  be  associated  with  the  sense  of  duty,  with 
the  constructive  social  instincts,  with  all  our  skills  and 
all  our  information.  If  we  succeed  in  establishing  this 
motive,  we  shall  have  relieved  ourselves  of  the  dilemma 
of  having  to  start  individualistic  motives  and  then  to 
change  them  into  social  motives,  for  the  very  same 
enterprises  in  which  the  child  of  six  is  engaged  are  those 
also  in  which  the  adolescents  and  adults  are  engaged, 
and  all  are  working  from  the  same  motive  —  foresight 
of  the  common  good.  There  will  be  no  whited  sepul- 
chers  with  dead  men's  bones  within,  or  half-washed 
cups,  for  the  Christian  enterprise  shall  have  grown 
up  within  the  children  and  shall  have  been  espoused  for 
its  own  sake,  and  not  for  selfish  advantage. 

It  is  exceedingly  important,  therefore,  that  we  begin 
at  the  very  beginning  to  utiHze  instincts  that  are  nat- 
urally directed  toward  cooperation  with  others,  to  form 
ideals  that  look  toward  types  of  cooperative  behavior, 
to  establish  habits  of  friendship,  and  justice,  and  co- 
operative dehberation  upon  the  results  of  different 
ways  of  acting,  with  a  view  to  choosing  the  behavior 
that  promotes  best  the  common  good. 


186         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

Typical  Problems.  How  little  attention  we  ordi- 
narily give  to  the  provision  of  motives  for  action  is  well 
illustrated  by  the  two  following  problems : 

1.  How  shall  we  teach  our  pupils  the  practise  of 
prayer? 

2.  How  shall  we  secure  home  work? 

1.  What  Motives  are  there  for  the  Ten-year-olds  to  Pray  at 

night  or  morning,  say?  What  desirable  consequences  of  praying 
are  evident  to  these  children?  What  have  they  prayed  for  or  about? 
What  has  been  the  effect?  Are  they  aware  of  any  efifect?  Do  they 
"  pray  "  for  gifts?     Do  they  receive  them? 

What  ideals  concerning  prayer  have  been  cultivated  in  them? 
Do  they  feel  any  obligation  to  pray?  Is  any  social  pressure  exerted 
to  lead  them  to  pray? 

What  instincts  are  there  to  lead  to  prayer,  and  what  is  the  stimu- 
lus that  starts  the  activity?  Desire  for  approval?  —  Who  approves? 
Imitation?  —  Who  else  prays?  Desire  to  cooperate?  —  With 
whom?  The  parental  instinct?  —  Have  they  been  taught  to  pray 
for  others?    Fear?  —  It  may  be. 

They  are  not  in  the  habit  of  praying.  We  cannot  depend  on 
that  to  keep  the  praying  activity  going. 

What  then  shall  we  do? 

Suppose  we  supply  all  these  deficiencies,  beginning  with  ourselves. 
^We  can  ourselves  pray  if  for  no  other  reason  than  to  let  them  know 
some  one  prays.  We  can  get  the  whole  class  to  try  it.  We  can  en- 
list the  feeUng  of  wanting  to  do  what  all  the  rest  do.  We  can  discuss 
what  prayer  means  and  what  its  consequences  are.  We  might  even 
sometimes  add  a  sense  of  obligation  by  starting  the  equivalent 
of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  "  morning  watch  "  pledge  and  so  appealing  to 
the  sense  of  honor  to  get  the  promised  task  done,  which  might  be 
of  use  to  get  the  activity  going.  We  can  provide  an  immediate 
stimulus  in  the  way  of  a  printed  prayer  or  list  of  topics  to  be  placed 
in  the  bedroom  mirror.  Added  motive  is  afforded  if  these  topics  are 
worked  out  by  the  class,  and  are  of  a  nature  to  stimulate  such  ten- 
dencies as  the  parental  interest  in  others;  the  desire  for  approval  — 
God's  approval;  the  desire  to  cooperate  —  to  share  ia  God's  work; 
the  tendency  to  criticize  and  ideaUze  —  leading  to  repentance, 
aspiration  and  resolution. 


MOTIVES  187 

Thus  it  will  become  an  important  cooperative  enterprise  with 
consequences  for  the  common  good,  and  incidentally  the  habit  will 
be  started. 

2.  As  for  Home  Work,  how  many  teachers  do  you 
suppose  actually  take  time  to  get  the  pupils  interested 
in  the  next  lesson?  What  reason  do  they  have  for  study- 
ing it  at  aU?  Simply  desire  to  please  the  teacher  or 
fear  of  his  disapproval?  Whatever  motive  the  pupils 
have,  evidently  it  is  not  a  powerful  one,  for  the  amount 
of  home  work  accomphshed  even  in  the  best  schools  is 
depressingly  meager. 

The  peculiar  difficulties  of  church-school  work  at  once  suggest 
themselves:  There  is  usually  only  one  session  a  week,  and  a  week  is 
a  long  time  to  carry  over  an  interest  in  a  course  of  study;  the  work 
is  voluntary;  there  is  a  strong  tradition  beUttling  the  importance 
of  the  school  work  and  sometimes  making  it  a  sign  of  mental  weak- 
ness to  study  the  lesson;  and  finally,  sad  to  say,  there  is  the  accumu- 
lated effect  of  bad  methods  of  teaching  and  lesson-making,  which 
make  the  study  of  the  lesson  an  uninteresting  or  even  disagreeable 
drudgery.  Witness  the  practise  once  used  of  assigning  for  daily 
Bible  reading  one  verse  of  the  next  Sunday's  story!  Imagine  a 
child's  reading  Treasure  Island  at  the  rate  of  three  Unes  a  day! 
This  is  typical  of  preposterous  methods  now  happily  being  out- 
grown. 

To  apply  some  of  the  principles  discussed  in  the  preceding 
pages,  we  must  find,  first,  a  sort  of  home  work  that  will  really^ 
contribute  something  to  the  class  work.  And  second,  we  must  seCs^ 
to  it  that  the  pupils  understand  the  relation  between  home  work 
and  class  work.  That  is,  the  home  work  must  be,  in  the  minds  of 
the  pupils,  an  essential  part  of  a  cooperative  enterprise  in  which 
they  are  already  interested,  and  each  pupil  must  feel  that  his  home 
work  makes  a  necessary  contribution  to  this  enterprise. 

This  is  a  counsel  of  perfection.  It  is  this  state  of  affairs  that  we 
desire  to  attain  to.  Meanwhile,  we  must  use,  frequently,  motives 
that  are  on  a  lower  plane.  It  may  be,  for  example,  that  one  pupil 
will  not  do  anything  for  the  sake  of  the  class  work,  unless  some  special 


188         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

interest  of  his,  such  as  an  interest  in  drawing,  can  be  called  into 
play.  If  this  pupil  can  be  asked  to  make  a  map  or  a  note-book 
cover  for  class  use,  he  will  do  so  because  he  likes  to  draw.  And  then 
if  he  can  be  made  to  feel  the  importance  of  his  map  or  cover  for  the 
class  work  and  can  receive  the  satisfaction  of  the  class's  approval, 
the  first  step  will  have  been  taken  toward  developing  a  truly  coopera- 
tive motive. 

Let  us  caution  ourselves  at  this  point  not  to  confuse  the  motive 
that  leads  one  to  do  something  jor  the  sake  of  the  social  approval 
of  the  group  with  the  motive  that  leads  one  to  do  something  for 
the  sake  of  the  group,  or  the  work  in  which  the  group  is  engaged.  We 
.may  use  social  approval  wisely  in  order  to  strengthen  the  desire  to 
work  for  the  sake  of  the  cause,  but  we  need  to  be  on  our  guard 
against  the  danger  that  the  social  approval  itself  will  be  the  sole 
object  for  which  the  child  works.  The  child  that  is  habitually 
compelled  to  "  show  off "  for  the  benefit  of  admiring  callers  is  in 
the  way  of  becoming  a  sycophant,  ever  playing  to  the  galleries,  with 
no  mind  of  his  own,  blown  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine,  intent 
only  on  applause  and  unhappy  without  it. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  go  into  details  of  method. 
A  suggestion  or  two,  however,  may  serve  to  illustrate 
the  psychological  laws  involved. 

1.  In  order  to  stimulate  interest  in  the  class  enterprise,  describe 
to  the  class  the  plan  of  having  a  "  class  book,"  containing  a  record 
of  what  the  class  does.  The  minutes  of  the  sessions,  photographs, 
a  class  attendance  chart,  records  of  special  events,  the  budget  and 
treasurer's  report,  and  anything  else  of  common  interest  are  put  into 
this  loose-leaf  note-book  which  is  displayed  at  the  school  exhibit 
at  the  end  of  the  year.  This  gives  concrete,  tangible  evidence  that  a 
piece  of  home  work,  such  as  an  essay  on  some  problem  arising  in 
class,  is  a  real  contribution  to  the  class  enterprise. 

2.  In  order  to  assure  the  maintenance  of  interest  from  week  to 
week,  care  should  be  taken  to  seize  upon  problems  that  arise  in  a 
class  session  which  can  be  made  the  starting  point  for  the  following 
session.  The  problem  may  be  entirely  within  the  subject  matter, 
as,  for  example.  What  was  there  about  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe's 
ancestry  or  early  training  or  environment  that  would  account  for 


MOTIVES  189 

her  ability  to  write  Uncle  Tom's  Cabinf  Such  problems  can  be  led 
up  to  as  the  concluding  feature  of  a  lesson,  and  then  it  can  be  pointed 
out  carefully  how  the  next  lesson  can  be  used  to  find  the  answer  to 
the  problem.  Practical  problems  can  be  handled  in  the  same  way. 
The  class  may  reach  a  clear-cut  conclusion  as  to  how  to  treat  people 
who  do  wrong  because  of  ignorance  or  under  the  pressure  of  starva- 
tion. "  But  you  were  just  asking  what  to  do  about  those  who,  in 
spite  of  all  their  advantages  and  from  the  motive  of  sheer  greed, 
commit  terrible  crimes.  Well,  the  next  lesson  takes  up  this  problem. 
Notice  the  title.  And  the  references,  you  see,  are  to  just  such  cases, 
and  to  the  various  ways  in  which  such  criminals  have  been  treated. 
And  you  will  see  on  page  so  and  so  how  you  can  hunt  out  the  Chris- 
tian way  of  dealing  with  this  problem  "  —  and  so  on. 

3.  Make  provision  for  the  employment  of  special  interests  or 
talent,  by  letting  pupils  choose  which  parts  of  the  lesson  they  will 
prepare  or  which  problems  they  will  take;  or  by  assigning  such 
problems  or  work  as  you  know  will  appeal  to  the  individual  pupil. 

4.  Teach  the  pupils  how  to  study.  Assist  them  in  getting  a"^ 
place  to  keep  their  work,  and  in  arranging  their  schedules  so  as  to 
allow  time  for  the  study  of  the  lesson  or  for  hunting  out  something 
in  connection  with  the  lesson.  Use  a  variety  of  methods  —  let  the 
home  work  be  flexible.  Occasionally  mail  reminders  of  the  work  or 
make  special  requests  for  special  work  during  the  week.  Be  sure 
that  any  work  to  be  done  is  understood  and  written  down.  Get  the 
parents  interested  in  the  problems  discussed  by  the  class.  Grade 
the  home  work  carefully  according  to  the  age  and  abihties  of  the 
pupils;  keep  it  difficult  but  not  so  difficult  as  to  discourage  all  effort. 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

1.  Why  do  children  go  to  school? 

2.  Does  your  school  try  to  improve  attendance  and  increase  enrol- 
ment? What  means  are  used?  What  motives  are  being  developed 
by  these  means?  Are  these  the  highest  of  which  the  children  are 
capable?    Can  you  suggest  a  better  way  of  proceeding? 

3.  Observe  a  class,  and  note  to  what  motives  the  teacher  appeals 
to  secure  order;  to  provide  for  the  study  of  the  next  lesson.  What 
would  you  have  done  as  the  teacher  of  this  class? 

4.  Study  the  Boy  Scouts,  or  Camp  Fire  Girls,  or  Girl  Scouts  in 


190         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

the  matter  of  prizes  and  honors.  How  are  these  awards  affected  by 
the  method  of  their  presentation?  Does  the  fact  that  the  awards 
symbolize  social  approval  justify  their  use?  What  evidence  can 
you  get  as  to  the  effect  on  the  boys  and  girls?  How  do  such  prizes 
differ  from  monetary  or  other  valuable  prizes  in  their  influence  upon 
character?  Do  you  approve  of  marks  in  day  school?  In  church 
school?    What  sort  of  marks? 

5.  Describe  the  method  of  missionary  education  in  your  school. 
What  provision  is  made  for  knowing  and  foreseeing  the  consequences 
of  giving? 

6.  In  what  home  activities  should  children  of  different  ages  en- 
gage? Which  is  better,  to  pay  a  child  for  performing  routine  home 
duties,  or  to  have  him  perform  them  as  a  bit  of  family  cooperation? 
How  about  special  services? 

7.  On  the  problem  of  human  motives,  R.  C.  Cabot,  What  Men 
Live  By,  will  be  found  useful. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
HEALTH 
The  Relation  of  Health  to  Character  - 

Thoroughgoing  Christianity  Requires  the  Prac- 
tise and  Promotion  of  Health.  This  has  both  a 
positive  and  a  negative  meaning.  It  concerns  both 
personal  and  public  hygiene.  Cleanliness  is  next  to 
godUness  in  a  far  deeper  sense  than  the  author  of  this 
phrase  imagined. 

We  have  already  learned  that  one  cannot  be  truly 
religious  without  considering  carefully  the  consequences 
of  his  acts  and  choosing  the  acts  that  make  for  the  com- 
mon good.  Disease  does  not  make  for  the  common 
good.  Being  below  par  does  not  make  for  the  com- 
mon good.  Voluntary  choice  of  a  personal  regimen  that 
permits  the  decay  of  one^s  vitaUty  is  unchristian. 
Submission  to  conditions  of  public  sanitation  in  cars, 
schools,  public  buildings,  sewerage  removal,  plumbing, 
water  supply,  milk  supply,  food  supply,  coal  supply, 
housing,  which  permit  the  breeding  of  disease  or  the 
lowering  of  the  vitaUty  of  others  is  unchristian.  And 
surely  to  expose  others  unnecessarily  to  infection  from 
one's  own  cold  or  other  disease  is  a  flagrant  violation 
of  good-will,  and  far  removed  from  the  Christian  idea  of 
social  obHgation. 

Personal  Health.  It  is  not  the  place  here  to  suggest 
a  detailed  program  for  the  maintenance  of  the  health  of 
children.     Parents  will  find  programs  adequately  de- 

191 


192         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

scribed  in  such  books  as  The  Mothercraft  Manual^  Mary 
L.  Read;  The  Care  and  Feeding  of  Children,  L.  E.  Holt; 
Short  Talks  with  Young  Mothers,  C.  G.  Kerley;  A 
Layman^ s  Handbook  of  Medicine,  R.  C.  Cabot;  How 
to  Liive,  Fisher  and  Fisk. 

The  last  two  volumes  should  be  in  every  church- 
school  library,  and  the  last  one  should  be  owned  by 
every  teacher.  The  first  of  these  two  helps  the  social 
worker  to  detect  the  evidences  of  disease,  and  the  second 
deals  with  the  conditions  essential  to  health.  No  one 
who  attempts  to  be  a  leader  of  children  can  afford  to 
neglect  his  own  health,  both  for  their  protection  and 
their  inspiration.  But  beyond  this  a  great  deal  can  be 
done  to  promote  the  children's  interest  in  health  as  an 
attainable  ideal,  and  as  a  proper  function  of  childhood. 

The  interest  in  physique  for  its  own  sake  does  not 
seem  to  come  till  early  adolescence.  At  that  time  ap- 
peals for  proper  care  of  oneself  can  usually  be  made 
effective  if  the  relation  of  hygiene  to  physical  develop- 
ment is  understood. 

This  conception  of  the  relation  of  hygiene  to  de- 
velopment is  not  sufficient  with  younger  children,  how- 
ever. It  is  even  difficult  to  get  them  to  avoid  candy 
for  the  sake  of  avoiding  a  stomach  ache.  It  is  hard  to 
get  children  over  six  to  eat  so  they  will  "  grow.''  Even 
Hkening  the  body  to  a  steam  engine  which  needs  coal 
(food)  and  careful  cleaning  (baths  and  brushing  teeth) 
will  not  usually  serve  as  an  incentive  strong  enough  to 
overcome  temporary  recalcitrant  moods. 

But  some  interest  in  the  regimen  itself  can  be  de- 
veloped, particularly  if  it  is  made  a  cooperative  affair 
in  which  all  the  members  of  the  family  participate  as  in 
a  sort  of  game.    The  game  has  rules  of  course.    So  the 


HEALTH  193 

family  has  rules  of  hygiene  —  even  rituals  and  forms 
and  ceremonies,  which  add  color  to  the  monotony 
of  morning  exercises  and  the  washing  of  face  and 
hands.  Exercising  and  dressing  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  march  music  on  the  phonograph  become 
almost  recreation. 

Appropriate  instruction  in  the  mechanism  of  the 
body  should  be  given  as  soon  as  interest  in  the  subject 
will  permit  it.^  The  direct  study  of  the  body  and  of  its\^ 
wonderful  care  of  itself  will  be  a  far  better  incentive  to 
proper  hygiene  than  any  comparisons  with  steam  en--^ 
gines.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  help  the  child  to  see  the 
importance  of  simple  precautions  for  the  sake  of  others : 
the  careful  disposal  of  handkerchiefs,  washcloths  and 
towels,  washing  the  hands,  coughing  into  the  handker- 
chief. These  things  they  will  do  for  the  sake  of  others, 
even  when  the  more  burdensome  ^'  setting  up  "  exercises 
are  neglected. 

It  is  more  and  more  becoming  the  custom  to  use  one's 
doctor  to  prevent  rather  than  to  cure  disease,  to  main- 
tain the  highest  possible  physical  efficiency.  Many 
families  have  their  children  periodically  examined 
whether  they  are  sick  or  not.  Thus  little  things  are 
detected  before  they  become  big,  and  many  a  serious  ill- 
ness is  avoided.  It  is  no  longer  considered  necessary 
that  children  should  have  all  the  "  children's  diseases  " 
while  they  are  young,  any  more  than  that  a  young 
man  should  sow  his  wild  oats.  What  a  splendid  thing 
it  would  be  if  there  were  no  diseases  to  maim  and  kill 
the  children,  who  are  not  responsible  as  we  adults  are 
for  the  perpetuation  of  sickness.     As  long  as  every  one 

1  A  good  text  book  on  Biology  is  the  Bigelows'  Introduction  to  Biology,  or  their 
Applied  Biology.  Cabot's  book,  referred  to  above,  gives  sufficient  anatomy  and 
physiology  for  the  average  teacher. 


194         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

is  "just  a  little  "  careless,  epidemics  of  death-dealing 
disease  may  be  expected.  It  must  be  that  we  don't 
care.     If  we  cared  enough,  we  would  stop  it. 

Many  diseases,  if  detected  in  time,  are  less  disabhng; 
and  by  maintaining  top-notch  condition,  many  diseases 
will  be  warded  off  even  when  the  children  are  exposed 
to  infection.  Top-notch  efficiency  depends,  however, 
upon  attention  to  many  things  besides  contagious 
diseases:  enlarged  tonsils,  adenoid  growths,  decaying 
or  misplaced  teeth,  heart  weakness,  constipation,  eye- 
strain, foot  trouble,  and  many  other  conditions.  These 
can  frequently  be  remedied  before  serious  damage  is 
done,  but  if  allowed  to  go  unattended  to,  they  leave  in 
their  wake  more  serious  and  often  incurable  conditions: 
spinal  curvature,  tuberculosis,  "  rheumatic  heart," 
intestinal  adhesions,  failing  eyesight,  misshapen  jaws, 
bad  teeth,  flat  feet,  and  all  the  rest.  Get  a  doctor  who 
understands  health  as  well  as  disease,  and  who  can 
detect  incipient  troubles  before  they  get  well  started, 
to  see  that  your  children  are  kept  well. 

The  elements  of  healthful  living  are  these:  air,  food, 
exercise,  rest,  work,  recreation  and  peace  of  mind. 
One  can  get  along,  of  course,  with  defects  in  any  or  all 
of  these  elements,  but  he  will  not  be  able  to  maintain 
top-notch  efficiency  without  plenty  of  all  seven.  As 
Professor  Thorndike  is  reported  to  have  said  when  asked 
how  long  a  man  should  work,  "  Take  enough  time  to 
sleep,  to  play  and  exercise,  to  eat  —  and  work  all  the 
rest  of  the  time." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  be  a  "  fresh  air  fiend  "  and  to 
make  all  your  friends  hate  you  in  order  to  get  enough 
fresh  air.  But  if  a  child  is  below  par,  an  open-air  school- 
room is  an  advantage.    Certainly  windows  are  to  be 


HEALTH  195 

wide  open  at  night,  and  better  still  is  the  outdoor  sleep- 
ing porch  or  some  makeshift  which  provides  the  maximum 
of  fresh  air  without  depriving  the  body  of  needed  protec- 
tion from  cold.  Draughts  are  of  no  consequence  unless 
they  chill  the  surface  exposed  to  them.  Cold  bathing 
increases  local  resistance  to  cold  draughts.  Care  should 
be  taken  to  avoid  chilling  the  body,  however,  for  when 
the  temperature  is  below  normal,  resistance  is  decreased, 
and  any  disease  germs  that  happen  to  be  already  in  the 
body  are  given  a  chance  to  grow  and  get  rooted.  This 
is  particularly  true  of  "  colds  "  which  often  seem  to 
start  after  unusual  exposure,  but  which  really  simply 
get  a  chance  to  take  hold  when  resistance  is  decreased. 

Resistance  is  maintained  by  proper  food  and  free 
ehmination  of  waste  through  skin,  kidneys  and  bowels. 
In  order  to  maintain  body  temperature,  and  to  provide 
building  material  and  storage  of  surplus,  a  well-rounded 
diet  is  particularly  necessary  for  children.  Relatively 
to  their  bulk,  they  need  more  food  than  adults.  They 
are  growing,  and  Uving  at  a  higher  pace.  They  have 
less  endurance,  and  cannot  go  so  long  without  food. 
Immediate  depreciation  of  vitahty  is  noticed  when  the 
food  supply  is  cut  down. 

Rest  is  indeed  important  for  children.  They  need 
plenty  of  sleep.  They  grow  when  they  are  asleep! 
And  their  excessive  expenditure  of  energy  requires  a 
long  recuperative  process.  The  good  old  custom  of  an 
early  bedtime  was  a  sound  one.  It  helped  make  healthy 
children.  For  younger  children,  and  as  long  as  they 
can  be  persuaded  to  do  so,  an  afternoon  nap  is  a  great 
blessing  for  the  whole  family.  Certainly  there  should 
be  time  for  rest  if  not  for  a  nap. 

As  has  already  been  suggested,  exercise  is  normal  to 


196         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

childhood.  Healthy  children  will  usually  take  all  they 
need.  Those  who  lack  vitality,  however,  are  apt  to 
choose  sedentary  occupations,  just  as  grown-ups  do, 
and  to  require  special  incentives  to  exercise,  such  as 
games.  Special  exercises  assist  symmetrical  develop- 
ment, and  counterbalance  the  asymmetrical  effects  of 
some  games.  Handball  counteracts  baseball,  for  ex- 
ample, by  calling  both  arms  into  play.  Swimming 
uses  the  whole  body,  rather  than  just  legs,  or  just  arms. 
When  neither  handball  nor  swimming  are  available, 
various  "  setting  up  ''  exercises,  or  gymnasium  work, 
will  artificially  accomplish  the  same  results. 

The  public  schools  are  to  be  held  accountable  for  bad 
as  well  as  good  physical  results.  All  too  little  attention 
has  been  paid  to  sanitary  conditions  and  to  exercise. 
Children  used  to  be  required  to  sit  for  hours  in  much  the 
same  cramped  position.  No  wonder  many  grew  up 
with  hollow  chests,  round  shoulders  and  crooked  spines. 
If  adults  need  frequent  change  of  position  and  stirring 
up  of  the  circulation,  how  much  more  do  the  children, 
who  are  building  their  bodies?  Getting  up  and  stretch- 
ing, walking  around  the  room,  group  exercises  with 
windows  open  —  or  better,  in  a  gymnasium  —  these 
things  help  to  compensate  for  the  tendency  to  sit  still 
too  long.  But  beyond  these  relaxations,  there  should  of 
course  be  opportunity  for  physical  development  under 
expert  supervision,  through  athletics,  gymnasium  work, 
swimming,  hikes,  and  so  on.  The  church  should  stand 
for  physical  education,  whether  in  the  schools  or  under 
other  auspices,  as  an  essential  part  of  the  educational 
program  of  every  child. 

Peace  of  Mind.  That  there  is  an  intimate  connec- 
tion between  mental  condition  and  health  is  well  under- 


HEALTH  197 

stood.  The  irritable  mood  is  as  likely  to  be  directly 
due  to  indigestion  or  constipation  or  eye-strain  or  too 
little  fresh  air  and  exercise,  as  to  a  disappointment. 
When  predisposed  by  physical  condition  to  irritabiUty, 
of  course  almost  any  incident  is  seized  upon  as  the  occa- 
sion of  annoyance.  Some  such  occasions  are  absurdly 
trifling,  and  would  hardly  distract  attention  under 
normal  conditions.  Frequent  disabihty  may  easily 
lead  to  a  habit  of  irritabihty,  however,  that  continues 
between  the  physical  occasions  and  becomes  a  permanent 
mental  characteristic.  Mere  restoration  to  health  will 
have  to  be  supplemented  by  rigorous  mental  hygiene  if 
such  chronic  bad  temper  or  nervousness  is  to  be  overcome. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  physical  condition  is  largely 
dependent  on  the  individual's  state  of  mind.  Shock 
from  disappointment  or  fear  or  excitement  is  apt  to  upset 
digestion;  this  upset  then  starts  the  usual  train  of  un- 
happy consequences.  Hurry  and  worry  and  bad  feel- 
ing are  not  conducive  to  good  health.  Over-excitement 
may  be  followed  by  depression  with  its  craving  for  more 
excitement.  Children  who  hve  in  a  tense  atmosphere 
in  which  everything  that  happens  causes  explosive  com- 
ments by  the  elders,  where  there  is  frequent  clash  of 
wills  and  display  of  temper,  where  every  one  is  in  a  hurry, 
or  always  late  or  afraid  of  being  late,  where  impending 
disaster  looms  high  in  imagination  and  all  are  worried 
to  death  over  troubles  that  never  come,  such  children 
are  only  too  hkely  to  grow  up  semi-nem"otics,  Hable  to 
all  sorts  of  physical  ills,  and  to  be  regarded  as  "  nervous," 
or  "  cranky,"  or  "  moody,"  or  "  queer,"  all  their  Uves. 
Health  does  not  generally  blossom  out  of  a  desert  of 
gloom  and  worry.  It  needs  the  peaceful,  warm-hearted 
sunshine   of   adult   self-control   and   mutual    good-will 


198         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

for  its  nurture.  Patience,  calmness,  moderation  in 
expression,  low-voiced  rather  than  strident  conversa- 
tion, slowness  to  wrath,  and  constant  attention  to  the 
hopeful,  happy,  wholesome  things  by  the  parents  and 
teachers  will  do  more  than  almost  anything  else  to 
create  an  atmosphere  favorable  to  health. 

Public  Hygiene.  We  cannot  begin  too  early  to 
interest  the  children  in  pubhc  health.  Our  Christian 
program  for  the  world  includes  the  promotion  of  the 
world's  health.  The  child's  contribution  to  it  begins 
with  his  care  for  his  own  health.  But  he  can  very  early 
participate  in  helping  the  family  to  keep  well,  in  helping 
his  classmates  to  keep  well,  and  in  helping  other  families 
to  keep  well.  His  contacts  with  hospitals  for  children 
can  begin  quite  as  soon  as  he  enters  the  church  school. 
He  will  help  make  scrap-books  for  the  sick  children 
to  look  at.  This  helps  the  doctors  and  nurses.  He  can 
go  to  see  the  crippled  children  and  cheer  them  up. 
He  can  give  his  money  for  milk  for  babies  who  need  it 
to  keep  well. 

Soon  he  can  take  an  interest  in  clean  streets,  in  gar- 
bage disposal,  in  campaigns  against  flies  and  mosquitoes 
and  rats.  Gradually,  bigger  and  more  difficult  problems 
will  present  themselves:  housing,  sewage,  and  so  on. 
In  these  matters  children  have  already  been  engaged  in 
great  numbers.  It  is  hard  to  see  how  a  successful  cam- 
paign against  flies  or  mosquitoes  could  be  conducted 
without  children.  In  this  and  similar  matters  they  have 
a  real  contribution  to  make  to  community  welfare. 

But  they  will  soon  see  that  people  of  other  countries 
are  sick,  too,  and  need  help.  They  need  to  be  made 
well  not  only  for  their  own  sake  but  also  for  the  world's 
health.     If  sickness  is  to  go,  it  must  go  from  every 


HEALTH  199 

corner  of  the  earth.  No  spot  must  be  left  uncleansed 
from  which  it  can  spread  again. 

And  what  a  wealth  of  romance  and  adventure  the 
battle  against  disease  has  recorded;  nurses  and  doctors 
have  risked  and  given  their  lives  to  make  others  well, 
or  to  discover  some  treatment  which  could  be  used  by 
others  to  cure  disease.  One  by  one  we  are  conquering 
them:  smallpox,  typhoid,  diphtheria,  hydrophobia; 
and  the  ravages  of  tuberculosis,  plague,  scarlet  fever 
are  being  slowly  reduced  and  limited.  What  a  splendid 
war  this  is  to  engage  in!  Suppose  we  succeeded  in  enhst- 
ing  every  child  among  the  forces  so  intelligently  and 
determinedly  arrayed  against  the  forces  of  disease,  it 
wouldn't  take  long  to  blot  it  out  forever  from  the  life 
of  men.  And  this  great  Christian  enterprise  —  to 
make  the  world  well  —  is  one  of  those  in  which  it  is 
most  natural  and  easy  to  enUst  the  children.  Does  it 
not  grow  right  out  of  their  tender  care  for  their  dolls 
and  their  sick  mothers  or  brothers  and  sisters?  And 
see  how  many  of  our  finest  men  and  women  are  already 
doing  this  neighborly  work.  It  is  so  completely  human, 
and  yet  so  splendidly  divine  a  task. 

Let's  begin  at  home  and  at  the  church  school  right 
away.  How  would  it  do  to  have  health  standards  for 
both  home  and  school  and  to  try  to  hve  up  to  them? 
These  would  include,  for  the  home,  such  matters  as 
these : 

Home  Hygiene. 

Regular  hours  for  meals,  and  promptness  at  meals. 

Food  chosen  and  prepared  with  scientific  care.     (This  will  mean, 

for  many,  less  time  in  the  kitchen  and  more  at  the  desk.) 
DeUberate  attempts  to  keep  meals  happy  —  if  a  member  cannot 

keep  up  the  spirit  let  him  eat  alone. 


200         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

Regular  bed  time  for  all  and  kept  by  all,  naturally  varying  according 
to  age  and  duties.  Let  this  hour  be  set  down  in  each  member's 
"  rules  "  and  there  will  be  less  difficulty  about  keeping  it.  Only 
the  most  extraordinary  occasions  should  justify  exceptions. 

Regular  rising  hours  —  letting  the  children's  rest  come  at  the  early 
part  of  the  night  and  so  permitting  a  rising  hour  early  enough  to 
give  time  to  perform  all  necessary  household  and  personal  duties 
without  wasteful  and  irritating  haste. 

A  personal  health  regimen  —  cold  sponge  or  hot  bath  according  to 
doctor's  directions,  exercises,  water,  etc;  rest  at  noon,  outdoor 
exercise  in  afternoon;  recreation  faithfully  allowed  for;  water 
between  meals  (avoiding  common  drinking  cup) ;  proper  clothing, 
neither  too  much  nor  too  Uttle;  fresh  air  day  and  night;  proper  use 
of  Ught  and  care  of  eyes;  periodic  attention  to  teeth  and  examina- 
tion for  physical  defects.  Family  health  grades  (A.  B.  C.  D.) 
might  be  devised,  to  be  awarded  each  month  to  each  member. 

School  Hygiene. 

Building.  One  room  for  each  class  or  curtained  or  screened  space 
for  each  class,  the  windows  on  the  left  of  the  pupils.  Younger 
pupils  should  be  above  the  ground  but  on  the  first  and  second  floors. 
There  should  be  easy  exit  arrangements  in  case  of  fire. 

Ventilation  and  heat.  If  the  janitor  cannot  attend  to  this  vital 
matter,  a  special  officer  should  be  appointed  to  see  that  rooms 
are  freshly  aired  and  dusted,  and  that  the  temperature  stays  at 
about  68°  F.  A  small  investment  in  thermometers  will  greatly 
assist  in  this.     Pupils  can  take  care  of  their  own  rooms. 

Hallways.  Wide,  light,  unobstructed,  if  possible,  and  leading 
straight  to  exit. 

Cloak  Rooms.  Wraps  should  be  hung  up  and  not  kept  on  during  the 
school  session.  If  well  aired  and  lighted  cloakrooms  are  not 
available,  racks  or  hooks  can  be  placed  in  hallways. 

Toilets.  Separate  toilets  for  younger  pupils  on  same  floor  as  class 
rooms.  All  toilets  kept  thoroughly  clean  and  aired  and  well  Hghted. 

Water.  Bubbhng  fountain  or  paper  cups,  and  not  placed  in  toilets. 
If  spring  water  is  used,  the  inverted  bottle  or  else  a  clean  tank 
with  faucet  is  needed  to  insure  cleanliness  of  supply. 

Furniture.  Chairs  and  tables  adapted  to  size  of  children.  Kinder- 
garten and  Primary  chairs  *  should  vary  from  ten  to  fourteen  inches 

•  The  Mosher  model  is  satisfactory. 


HEALTH  201 

in  height,  and  the  tables  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  inches. 
Feltoid  tips  on  chairs  and  tables  prevent  noise  and  slipping. 
Junior  chairs  and  tables  should  also  be  smaller  than  for  adults. 
Each  child  should  be  seated  comfortably,  with  feet  securely  on  the 
floor. 

Facilities  for  outdoor  and  indoor  play  and  exercise.  If  health  is  to 
be  given  a  central  place  in  our  scheme  of  religious  education,  the 
conditions  of  health  must  be  recognized  in  church  buildings. 
Few  towns  or  cities  have  too  many  gymnasiums  and  playgrounds, 
with  proper  bathing  arrangements,  and  yet  these  are  essential  for 
the  health  of  children  in  cities  and  are  a  valuable  aid  in  small 
towns.  Churches  might  easily  cooperate  in  a  plan  for  providing 
adequate  play  faciUties  for  their  children.  It  is  a  splendid  thing 
for  children  of  all  classes  of  society  to  play  together  imder  religious 
auspices. 

A  health  program,  individual  and  social.  Each  child  should  be 
stimulated  to  keep  at  top-notch  health  and  to  develop  as  sym- 
metrically and  completely  as  nature  will  permit.  Physical 
eflficiency  tests  of  not  too  technical  a  nature  can  be  devised  and 
proper  grading  can  be  awarded  regularly.  Charts  are  helpful 
incentives. 

The  schedules,  even  for  one  Sunday  morning  program,  can  give 
adequate  attention  to  the  physical  needs  of  the  children  by  op- 
portunities for  relaxation,  exercise  and  recreation.  And  during 
the  week  there  is  abundant  opportunity  for  definite  emphasis  on 
the  discipline  and  development  of  the  body,  which  is  the  temple  of 
God.  Whether  by  gymnasium  work  by  the  boys  or  folk-dancing 
and  esthetic  dancing  by  the  girls,  which  is  the  line  of  natural 
interest,  or  by  some  other  suitable  methods,  the  place  of  health 
and  abounding  vitahty  in  the  Christian  religion  should  be  recog- 
nized by  every  church. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

1.  At  what  hour  does  your  church  school  meet?  If  in  the  after- 
noon, how  does  the  children's  physical  condition  compare  with  their 
early  morning  condition?  If  after  church,  what  should  be  the  na- 
ture of  the  school  session  to  offset  the  confinement  of  the  church 
service? 

2.  Is  there  a  recess  between  church  service  and  church  school  in 


202         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

your  church?    What  is  done  during  this  period  if  there  be  one? 
Should  there  be  one?    How  can  it  best  be  spent? 

3.  Observe  some  class  closely  to  see  which  pupils  are  least  re- 
sponsive. Discover  if  you  can  whether  this  unresponsiveness  is 
due  to  physical  conditions,  such  as  overstudy,  lack  of  nourishment, 
adenoids. 

4.  Examine  the  ventilation  of  the  rooms  where  the  pupils  meet. 
Is  it  adequate?  Is  the  air  kept  fresh  and  moving?  What  is  the 
temperature?  Do  children  keep  their  wraps  on?  Change  the  air  in 
a  close,  hot  room  and  watch  for  any  change  in  the  behavior  of  the 
children. 

5.  How  can  your  school  best  promote  the  health  of  the  com- 
munity? 


CHAPTER  XV 

WORK  AND  PLAY 

Psychological  Relations 

When  Children  Are  Let  Alone,  They  Play.  What 
is  more,  they  play  hard.  They  do  things  that  require 
great  effort,  long  concentration,  ingenuity,  and  co- 
operation with  others.  At  first  their  play  is  indistin- 
guishable from  other  waking  activities.  They  just 
act  in  a  variety  of  pleasing  ways  in  response  to  the 
strange  and  multiform  stimuU  that  throng  in  upon  their 
sense  organs.  The  world  invites  them  to  experiment, 
to  enjoy,  to  discover,  to  conquer  —  to  play. 

These  virginal  responses  of  animals  are  valuable  in 
many  ways.  The  machinery  of  response  is,  of  course, 
largely  inherited.  What  the  animals  do  is  naturally 
what  the  race  has  been  equipped  to  do  by  long  struggle 
and  selection.  In  responding  according  to  the  dictates 
of  ancestral  experience,  the  young  are  therefore  begin- 
ning their  own  experiment  in  living.  They  are  getting 
practise  in  the  use  of  their  equipment,  making  such 
improvement  in  it  as  the  length  of  infancy  will  allow 
them.  The  higher  up  we  go  in  the  scale  of  development, 
the  more  the  offspring  play,  and  the  longer  they  play. 
Their  play  activities  give  them  an  unquestionable  ad- 
vantage in  the  game  of  Hfe  which  they  are  thus  learning 
in  the  shelter  of  the  domestic  circle.  They  learn  to 
hunt  without  running  the  dangers  of  the  real  hunt. 
They  learn  to  fight  with  friends  who  have  no  destructive 

203 


204         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

intention,  and  so  acquire  the  technique  they  will  later 
use  with  enemies.  They  learn  to  care  for  dolls  in  antici- 
pation of  the  duties  of  motherhood.  By  the  same 
tendencies  that  lead  their  elders  into  the  intricate  opera- 
tions of  social  life,  buying  and  selling,  building,  hoard- 
ing wealth  or  art,  fighting,  home-making,  the  children 
are  led  to  undertake  similar  activities.  The  form  of  the 
activity  is  determined  largely  by  the  adult  life  which 
they  dehght  in  imitating;  the  impulse  comes  from  the 
deep-lying  instincts  to  do  these  elemental  things,  and  to 
have  a  share  in  the  common  Hfe.  If  we  did  not  de- 
Uberately  teach  children  anj^thing,  we  would  find  them 
learning  all  our  tricks,  eagerly  helping  us,  and  begging 
to  be  admitted  into  the  mysteries  of  adulthood. 

The  Beginning  of  Work.  About  the  only  standard 
we  have  of  what  real  play  is,  then,  is  what  children  do 
when  they  are  free  to  do  as  they  please.  When  the  facts 
of  the  unprotecting,  undomestic  larger  world  confront 
them,  when,  by  the  authority  of  those  who  are  superior 
in  strength  they  are  required  to  do  this  or  that,  to  go 
to  school,  to  fetch  or  carry,  to  practise  or  study,  the 
original  area  of  care-free,  undictated  activity  is  infringed 
upon.  What  is  left  is  still  "  play,"  but  the  intruder, 
who  makes  demands  upon  their  time  and  strength,  by 
necessity  or  by  authority,  is  called  '^  work."  The  activi- 
ties may  indeed  be  identical.  The  child  would  have 
hewn  wood  and  drawn  water  and  searched  for  the  mean- 
ing of  the  printed  page  because  something  within  him 
urged  him  to  do  so,  and  it  would  have  been  play.  Now, 
something  without  compels  him  to,  and  the  deed  be- 
comes work. 

In  an  undomesticated  universe,  where  men  are  un- 
sheltered from  the  hard  blows  of  stern  reaHty,  compul- 


WORK  AND  PLAY  205 

sion  —  the  compulsion  of  natural  law  —  is  always  pres- 
ent. In  addition  to  these  compulsions  of  natural  law, 
which  make  work  necessary  for  the  sake  of  liveUhood 
and  rest,  there  are  man-made  compulsions,  that  have 
grown  up  as  the  result  of  men's  efforts  to  meet  these 
natural  compulsions  in  cooperation.  Many  of  them 
are  in  the  form  of  laws,  disobedience  to  which  brings 
punishment,  just  as  disobedience  to  natural  law  brings 
its  own  disastrous  consequences.  On  obedience  to 
these  laws,  the  life  of  society  depends.  They  regulate 
the  way  the  individual  members  of  society  shall  work 
together  for  the  protection  of  all.  Other  man-made 
compulsions  are  unwritten  laws,  customs,  usages,  taboos, 
etiquette,  folk-ways,  which  have  grown  up  more  or  less 
unconsciously,  and  which  are  more  or  less  binding  on 
individuals,  being  enforced  by  the  approval  and  disap- 
proval of  the  group.  These  determine  even  more 
specifically  and  completely  the  way  people  shall  behave, 
and  so  make  still  further  inroads  upon  the  area  of  play. 
Finally,  the  way  by  which  men  and  women  shall  meet 
the  necessities  of  life  by  their  own  industry  are  fixed 
chiefly  by  others.  Industrial  life  is  almost  completely 
mechanized.  The  worker  is  a  cog  in  the  machine.  He 
can  no  longer  even  meet  nature's  requirement  in  his 
own  way.  If  he  would  live  he  must  work  as  some  one 
else  directs,  and  for  as  long  as  some  one  else  requires. 
In  the  professions  the  situation  is  only  sHghtly  better. 
Routine  almost  completely  absorbs  a  person's  time 
whether  he  teaches,  or  practises  medicine  or  law.  Artists 
are  sometimes  regarded  with  envy  because  they  can 
paint  what  they  Uke  and  when  they  want  to.  So  they 
can,  if  they  are  willing  to  risk  starving  to  death.  But  if 
art  is  a  mode  of  livelihood  and  not  a  form  of  recreation, 


206         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

they  must  sell  their  product.  And  here  again,  society 
dictates  what  shall  be  painted  to  keep  the  pot  boiUng. 
And  picture  the  mechanical  routine  of  housework! 
An  efficient  woman  soon  masters  the  technique.  She 
may  be  free  in  decorating  her  home  to  her  taste,  once; 
but  once  done,  it  is  done.  One  cannot  buy  new  furnish- 
ings every  year,  as  one's  taste  grows.  And  now  even 
babies  must  be  brought  up  by  rule. 

What  is  Left  of  Play?  Is  this  almost  complete 
mechanizing  of  life  and  almost  complete  elimination  of 
the  area  of  free  self-activity  that  is  original  with  child- 
hood, a  desirable  state  of  affairs?  If  so,  let  us  continue 
the  good  work,  and  oppose  every  attempt  to  establish 
a  Hving  wage  or  to  reduce  the  hours  of  labor,  or  to  in- 
crease facihties  for  the  enjoyment  of  leisure,  or  to  train 
men  to  be  independent  contributing  members  of  a  de- 
mocracy. Democracy  protests  against  the  usurping  of 
all  a  man's  time  by  the  compulsion  of  either  necessity 
or  authority,  and  it  seeks  a  way  of  organizing  human  life 
so  that  the  compulsion  of  necessity  shall  be  reduced  to  a 
minimum  and  the  compulsion  of  authority  be  confined 
to  maintaining  conditions  that  benefit  all  alike.  The  right 
to  play  in  a  protected  society,  with  which  a  child  is  born, 
must  not  be  denied  to  him  as  he  grows  up  into  citizen- 
ship in  a  bigger  world  than  the  family.  Society  must 
protect  him  from  the  fear  of  starvation  and  attack  and 
the  piracy  of  profiteers,  and  so  give  him  room  to  be  some- 
thing more  than  a  pawn  or  a  cog  or  a  draught  animal. 

Providing  for  Botli  Work  and  Play.  However 
we  fix  it,  compulsions  will  remain.  Food  must  be  raised, 
goods  produced,  and  the  necessary  social  machinery 
kept  running.  Work  must  be  done,  and  children  must 
therefore  learn  to  work. 


WORK  AND  PLAY  207 

But  there  are  two  ways  in  which  the  play  Hfe,  or  the 
Ufe  of  free  self -activity,  can  still  be  provided  for.  One 
way  is  by  transforming  work  itself  so  that  it  will  be  a 
joy  rather  than  a  burden,  an  educating,  rather  than 
a  dehumanizing,  force.  The  other  is  to  make  pro- 
vision through  recreation  for  the  operation  of  the  play 
spirit. 

Reform  by  Recreation.  The  second  of  these  two 
methods  of  relieving  the  situation  is  the  one  men  nat- 
urally seek.  It  represents  the  hne  of  least  social  re- 
sistance. It  interferes  least  with  privilege  —  indeed  it 
is  supported  Uberally  by  those  who  accumulate  profits 
out  of  the  work  that  precedes  the  recreation.  Most  of 
our  social  reforms  look  in  the  direction  of  the  better  use 
of  leisure.  Leisure  is  what  men  work  for,  from  their 
own  point  of  view.  Work  is  what  men  need  recreation 
for,  from  their  employer's  point  of  view.  From  both 
points  of  view,  desirable,  that  is,  re-creating,  refreshing, 
recreation,  is  worth  paying  for. 

The  school  is  not  an  employer,  although  it  has  some- 
times assumed  the  attitude  of  an  employer  toward  the 
children.  Children  must  play  so  they  can  work  better. 
Recess,  as  the  name  impUes,  is  an  interlude  between 
periods  of  school  work.  The  interlude  is  not  important 
enough  to  have  a  name  of  its  own.  But  this  attitude  is 
rapidly  changing,  and  the  "  play  periods  "  and  "  play 
methods  "  are  indications  of  the  desire  to  make  educa- 
tional use  of  the  natural  powers  and  interests  with 
which  nature  has  so  lavishly  endowed  children. 

Transforming  and  Interpreting  Work.  Of  the 
possible  and  necessary  transformation  of  work,  this  is 
not  the  place  to  speak.  That  machines  must  be  made 
to  fit  men,  and  not  men  to  fit  machines,  is  obvious.     Yet 


208  CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

only  by  the  use  of  machines  can  enough  goods  be  pro- 
duced to  allow  for  other  activities  than  those  of  supply- 
ing immediate  necessities.  And  many  other  forms 
of  mechanical  work  must  be  done  if  leisure  for  play  is 
to  be  secured.  But  the  mechanical  work  can  be  given 
Hfe  and  interest  by  being  made  an  intelHgible  part  of  a 
process  of  manufacture  or  management  that  is  under- 
stood as  a  whole  by  the  machine-worker  or  the  clerk 
who  does  the  isolated  part.  The  work  of  getting  a 
living  for  the  human  race  out  of  this  old  world  is  a 
fascinating  enterprise  in  which  every  man,  woman  and 
child  is  interested,  and  in  the  control  of  which  every 
man,  woman  and  child  has  a  right  to  share.  We  must 
educate  for  the  world's  work,  as  well  as  train  for  a 
trade,  if  we  are  to  humanize  the  process  of  getting 
a  living. 

ReHgious  education  has  a  particularly  important 
function  to  perform  here.  The  interpretation  of  work 
as  a  vocation  of  service  to  the  world,  rather  than  as  a 
means  of  selfish  plunder;  the  dignifying  of  work  as  a 
worthy  human  enterprise,  essentially  ahke  in  its  spirit 
whether  the  activity  be  mining  coal  or  operating  for 
appendicitis ;  the  beautifying  of  work  by  getting  the 
spirit  of  Christ  into  control  of  its  human  relations  —  all 
these  are  tasks  appropriate  to  Christian  education  and 
should  find  a  place  in  any  course  of  study  and  training 
that  has  for  its  purpose  the  making  of  Christians. 

Balancing  Work  and  Play.  Could  work  be  thus 
transformed  and  understood,  it  would  partake  largely 
of  the  spirit  of  play,  for  men  would  achieve  free  self- 
realization  through  the  consecration  of  their  powers  to 
the  common  good.  Even  so,  however,  there  would  still 
be  much  routine,  much  compulsory  activity,  in  order 


WORK  AND  PLAY  209 

that  this  service  might  avoid  the  wastes  of  unorganized 
or  competing  effort.  There  will  still  be  the  need  for 
recreation,  even  though  men  find  ample  opportunity 
for  self-expression  in  their  work.  One  cannot  work  at 
one  thing  indefinitely  any  more  than  one  can  play 
at  one  thing  without  becoming  exhausted.  Under  the 
best  conditions,  change  in  activity  will  be  necessary  to 
keep  the  human  machine  in  good  condition. 

If  this  is  true  of  the  ideal  society,  how  much  more  is 
it  true  that  recreation  is  necessary  for  society  as  now 
organized!  For  the  majority  of  people,  recreation  will 
offer  the  only  chance  for  free  self-expression,  for  the 
exercise  of  the  higher  powers  of  mind  that  are  now  denied 
activity.  We  must  train  children,  not  only  to  see  the 
defects  of  our  present  way  of  doing  things  and  to  help 
reconstruct  our  social  order,  but  also  to  get  along  as 
well  as  possible,  meanwhile,  with  the  social  order  as  it 
is.  The  more  abundant  Ufe  can  be  begun  now,  without 
waiting  for  the  millennium.  For  most  children,  as  they 
grow  up,  the  road  to  this  more  abundant  fife  will  run 
through  the  land  of  play,  not  of  work.  They  will  have 
to  turn  from  work  to  play  to  find  both  recreation  and 
their  own  highest  life.  Let  us  not  doubly  rob  them,  by 
first  denying  to  them  the  right  to  find  Ufe  in  work  and 
then  denying  them  the  opportunity  for  wholesome  use  of 
leisure.  Training  for  any  vocation  is  no  more  necessary 
than  training  for  the  avocation,  or  leisure  occupation, 
that  can  best  be  coupled  with  it  to  make  a  complete 
hfe  of  service  and  selfhood.  Provision  for  appropriate 
recreation  for  each  vocation  is  just  as  much  a  social 
function  as  provision  for  work.  We  must  harness 
man's  nature  that  it  may  do  the  world's  work  in  the 
quickest,  easiest,  happiest  way;    and  we  must  release 


210         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

it  again,  when  work  is  done,  to  wing  its  own  unimpeded 
way  toward  the  heavenly  City. 

The  Psychology  of  Recreation.  Recreation  is 
the  effort  to  win  release  from  toil  and  fatigue  and  the 
restraint  of  prescribed  routine.  Such  release  is  essen- 
tially individual.  Its  nature  depends  upon  the  physi- 
ological condition  of  the  person  that  needs  recreation: 
the  condition,  that  is,  that  results  from  his  predominating 
activity,  his  state  of  health  and  his  temperament.  The 
effort  to  secure  this  immediate  and  temporary  release 
is  similar  in  many  respects  to  the  effort  of  rehgion  to 
secure  ultimate  and  permanent  release.  The  same  de- 
sire for  satisfaction  is  present  as  constitutes  the  motive 
of  religion,  only  religion  is  concerned  with  more  im- 
portant and  more  lasting  issues.  Rehgion  is  mind  at 
work  upon  ultimate  realities,  supreme  values,  and  the 
relation  of  the  self  to  its  own  destiny  and  the  forces  that 
are  supposed  to  determine  that  destiny.  Rehgion  ex- 
hibits the  same  alternation  between  repression  and 
release  as  is  found  in  recreation,  only  recreation  is  con- 
tent with  the  fragmentary  and  passing  joys  that  drown 
care,  that  give  us  a  taste  of  freedom,  and  send  us  back  to 
the  daily  conflict  with  a  song  in  our  hearts.  The  dif- 
ference is,  therefore,  in  the  relative  importance  and 
permanence  of  the  interests  and  values  that  afford  re- 
lease, and  in  the  completeness  and  depth  of  purpose  with 
which  one  seeks  to  escape  into  the  '*  large  place."  Conse- 
quently, when  the  values  sought  in  recreation  become 
more  significant  for  the  individual,  more  fundamental, 
more  social,  recreation  merges  into  religion.  And 
when  rehgion  tends  by  formalism  or  by  decay,  or  in  its 
elementary  stages,  to  seek  temporary  and  fragmentary 
values,  it  merges  into  recreation.     In  the  beginning, 


WORK  AND  PLAY  211 

the  two  are  not  distinguishable,  and  certain  modern 
religious  ceremonies  can  be  regarded  simply  as  sheer 
recreation  for  many. 

Let  us  see  more  particularly  what  is  meant  by  this 
merging  of  recreation  and  religion.  It  was  suggested 
that  religion  and  recreation  are  in  the  same  series  of 
facts,  but  nevertheless  are  not  the  same.  At  one  end  of 
the  series  is  recreation,  with  its  interest  in  activities 
that  bring  temporary  rehef  to  the  individual  from 
strain  and  fatigue.  The  temporary  satisfactions  are 
those  that  are  commonly  sought,  and  they  are  sought 
pretty  much  without  regard  to  ultimate  consequences 
to  self  or  others.  But  these  activities  frequently  do 
involve  others.  Individuals  associate  with  one  another 
in  their  recreation.  Mutual  forbearance  and  accom- 
modation take  place.  The  fact  of  a  social  situation 
sets  going  other  interests  than  those  of  mere  recreation 
or  individual  rehef  and  relaxation.  As  this  social 
horizon  enlarges  and  as  the  social  accommodations 
increase,  recreation  begins  to  lose  something  of  its 
immediate  interest.  And  when  the  boundaries  of 
present  social  existence  are  broken  through,  and  one 
seeks  relief  from  the  temporal  in  an  eternal  social  order 
in  which  he  finds  his  true  self,  we  have  recreation  trans- 
formed into  rehgion.  Somewhere  in  the  series,  it  will 
be  hard  to  tell  whether  the  activity  is  recreation  or 
rehgion.  In  certain  pageantry,  for  example,  undertaken 
for  rehgious  purposes,  to  express  an  ideal  and  to  raise 
the  general  level  of  social  hving,  and  yet  functioning  for 
recreation  for  all  who  participate  or  observe,  have  we 
rehgion  or  recreation  or  both?  This  hne  of  progress  is 
indicated  in  Figure  12. 

But  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  same  transformation  is 


212         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

observable  in  the  case  of  work.  Work,  too,  becomes 
religion,   when  its  ends  are  socialized  and  idealized. 

^  Qomrnoty  ^ 

^  ^  (grouty  ^  Tft-llf^'ion 

Figure  12 

Working  at  first  for  mere  existence,  for  temporary  and 
self -centered  ends,  man  comes  in  time  to  devote  his 
strength  to  tasks  that  have  as  their  object  the  social 
good.  As  the  social  horizon  broadens  and  includes  within 
its  circle  a  realm  of  moral  permanence,  work  becomes 
the  labor  of  limitless  love,  the  devotion  to  the  Kingdom, 
the  duty  of  the  citizen  of  the  eternal  Democracy.  And 
figure  13  shows  this  progress: 

.  V  Cornrrfnn \ 5erv>ce. . 

WorJ<  Ground  {,'^^h'gi  or\  J 

Figure  13 

Now  play  also  exhibits  the  same  transformation  into 
the  aspect  of  rehgion.  Play,  at  first  just  the  overflowing 
of  life  in  instinctive  channels,  the  sheer  joy  of  hving  for 
the  sake  of  living,  becomes  gradually  concerned  with 
other  individuals,  with  ideas  and  fancies  as  well  as 
things.  Life  itself  becomes  a  great  game,  or  a  great 
opportunity  for  free  and  glorious  achievement.  And 
when  one  comes  to  stake  his  all  on  the  eternal  issues,  to 
assume  the  mastery  of  his  fate,  to  play  in  his  imagination 
with  destiny  and  with  the  prophecy  of  a  new  world, 
his  play  becomes  rehgion,  perhaps  worship.  Figure  14 
represents  the  transition: 

I  .^  Com  mow  ^  M/ovsfr*>  , 

T/a^  ^  Oroun<L  ^  CReJigr'on) 

Figure  14 

Strictly  speaking,  in  experience,  we  do  not  have  a 
straight  work-Hne  and  a  straight  play-Hne  paralleling 


WORK  AND  PLAY  213 

one  another  continuously.    Rather  is  there  a  constant 
alternation  between  the  two,  as  represented  in  Figure  15 : 


"Tfecreatron 


Figure  15 

The  lower  hne  of  work  merely  joins  the  troughs  of  the 
waves,  and  the  upper  Hne  of  play  joins  the  crests  of  the 
waves,  and  the  alternation  or  movement  from  one  to 
the  other  is  "  recreation."  At  the  left  or  less  developed 
end  of  the  series,  recreation  is  on  the  level  of  work  and 
play;  as  is  one's  work  and  play,  so  is  one's  recreation. 
The  recreation  is  not  an  independent  enterprise;  it  is 
simply  the  pulsing  alternation  between  the  two  enter- 
prises of  work  and  play.  Engaged  in  meeting  the  neces- 
sities of  physical  existence,  the  primitive  individual 
plays  in  crude  and  exciting  ways  suited  to  the  process  of 
rest  and  refreshment  that  is  required  by  his  physiologi- 
cal condition.  ReUgion  for  him  would  be  an  effort  al- 
most wholly  in  the  realm  of  duty,  or  else  would  be  a 
recreation  characterized  by  the  emotional  excesses  of 
primitive  festivals  and  revivals.  But  as  his  work  be- 
comes socialized  and  his  play  more  refined,  as  he  seeks 
his  true  self  in  moral  rather  than  physical  conditions 
and  relations,  so  his  recreation  becomes  an  alternation 
more  within  the  area  of  religion  —  an  alternation,  if 
you  like,  between  worship  and  service.  Worship  serves 
as  the  great  recreator  for  those  whose  tasks  are  com- 
pletely spirit uaH zed  by  rehgion. 

What  distinguishes  the  play-line  from  the  work-line? 
Children  play  at  work  and  work  at  play.     To  one  man 


214         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

music  is  play.  To  another  it  is  work.  The  difference 
is  not  in  the  act.  Nor  is  it  in  the  man;  for  at  one  time 
a  man  will  find  an  act  work  which  under  other  circum- 
stances is  play,  for  example,  writing  a  book.  The 
difference  is  in  the  relation  of  the  individual  to  the  activ- 
ity, or,  in  other  words,  in  the  function  of  the  activity. 
The  performance  of  the  biological  functions  which  are 
necessary  for  existence  is  work.  The  higher  or  preferen- 
tial^ functions  are  the  area  of  play,  of  choice,  of  enter- 
prise. The  alternation  between  the  line  of  biological 
functioning  and  preferential  functioning  is  the  recreative 
process. 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  exercise  of  instincts 
connected  with  biological  functions  is  not,  at  times, 
play.  Instincts  are  not  functions.  Indeed  when  the 
biological  functions  are  on  the  strictly  physiological 
level,  the  play  of  the  individual  is  apt  to  involve  basic 
instincts  of  sex,  gregariousness,  eating,  fighting,  and  the 
nke.  As  the  biological  function  extends  to  cover  the 
meaning  of  personal  existence  in  a  permanent  spiritual 
world,  the  play  activity  takes  on  the  form  of  valuations, 
choices,  the  joy  of  being  intellectually  alive,  and  aware 
of  the  meaning  of  the  existence  for  which  one  is  laboring 
both  physically  and  morally. 

Both  recreation  and  rehgion,  then,  are  movements 
toward  values  that  are  conceived  of  in  contrast  with 
present  conditions.  Rehgion,  as  a  movement  or  process 
of  mind,  may  be  thought  of  as  a  lesser  and  a  greater 
alternation.  The  lesser  alternation  is  the  alternation 
between  work  on  the  rehgious  level  and  worship  on  the 
religious  level.     The  greater  alternation  is  between  the 

1  Cf.  the  discussion  by  G.  A.  Coe,  A  Proposed  Clasaijicatio      /Mental  Fun«tiont, 
Psychological  Review,  XXII,  No.  2.     March,  1915. 


WORK  AND  PLAY  215 

whole  fact  of  physical  and  spiritual  limitation,  transiency, 
fear,  loneliness,  and  the  whole  fact  of  faith,  or  the  as- 
surance of  hoped-for  freedom,  permanence,  confidence 
and  ideal  companionship.  That  from  which  recreation 
is  the  release  may  be  thought  of  as  temporary  fatigue, 
external  control,  worry,  care,  routine,  work.  Rehgion 
releases  a  man  from  the  temporal  into  the  eternal. 
Recreation  releases  a  man  from  work  into  play.  That 
toward  which  play  moves  is  free  creation,  admitting  no 
limitations  save  such  as  are  self-imposed.  Play  and 
worship  are  of  the  same  spirit,  therefore,  and  merge  into 
one  another  in  reUgious  drama,  art,  music  and  pageantry; 
and  play  and  service,  likewise,  converge  in  all  sorts  of 
philanthropic  and  political  activity  that  is  undertaken 
for  the  joy  of  the  work  and  which  contributes  to  the 
common  good. 

As  work  and  play  grow  into  the  activities  and  moods 
of  reUgion,  so  the  work  and  play  lines  converge,  and  the 
alternations  become  less  extreme.  In  the  end,  work 
and  play  will  be  identical,  because  both  will  have  arrived 
at  the  same  goal,  the  complete  and  unified  self,  as  is 
suggested  in  Figure  16: 


Figure  10 

We  must  have  recreation  as  long  as  we  must  work. 
But  we  work  for  the  achievement  of  a  world  where  play 
will  be  the  normal  activity  of  mind,  and  in  true  play  we 
find  a  foretaste  of  the  eternal. 


216         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

1.  Secure  time  schedules  of  the  way  children  spend  their  time 
on  Saturdays,  holidays  or  vacations. 

2.  How  does  the  procedure  in  kindergarten  or  first  grade  differ 
from  what  you  would  call  play? 

3.  Compare  the  games  of  five-year-olds  with  those  of  nine-year- 
olds.    What  have  these  plays  in  common? 

4.  Is  there  anything  injurious  to  character  in  play?  List  chil- 
dren's games  in  two  sets,  those  that  help  and  those  that  hinder 
Christian  growth. 

5.  Ought  children  to  work?  What  are  the  effects  of  various  kinds 
of  work  as  you  have  observed  them? 


CHAPTER  XVI 

WORK  AND  PLAY  (Continued) 

The  Educational   Use    of   Work,  Play   and   Rec- 
reation 

The  Value  of  Recreation.  Our  analysis  of  work  and 
play  and  of  their  relation  to  each  other  has  brought 
to  our  attention  two  significant  problems:  first,  the 
relation  of  recreation  to  work  —  the  kind  of  recreation 
best  suited  to  maintain  efficiency,  together  with  proper 
training  therefor;  and  second,  the  relation  of  recrea- 
tion to  life  —  the  kind  of  recreation  best  suited  to  assure 
an  individual  the  fullest  self -development,  together  with 
proper  training  therefor. 

Psychologically,  we  have  said,  recreation  is  release 
from  some  kind  of  restraint.  Restraint  may  be  brought 
about  by  either  desirable  or  undesirable  activity.  Play 
itself  under  our  physical  hmitations  may  require  an 
antidote.  The  essential  change,  therefore,  is  not  from 
any  one  kind  of  activity  to  any  other  kind,  but  from  a 
given  activity  to  an  activity  that  brings  satisfying  release. 
Whether  or  not  this  or  that  leisure  occupation  is  recrea- 
tional will  depend,  therefore,  on  what  precedes  it,  and 
upon  the  state  of  mind  of  the  individual  who  partici- 
pates in  it.  Shakespearean  drama  may  be  recreation 
for  the  cultured  woman  of  leisure.  It  may  be  hard  work 
for  the  dramatic  critic,  or  for  the  "  tired  business  man.'' 
Baseball  may  afford  satisfying  release  for  the  mechanic 
in  an  ammunition  factory.  The  bookkeeper  in  the  same 
factory  may  prefer  dancing  or  just  "  fanning."     What  is 

217 


218         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

recreation  for  the  seaman  on  reaching  port  grows  weari- 
some before  he  sails  again;  he  seeks  fresh  contrasts  to 
excite  and  entertain.  He  may  even  long  to  get  back 
to  his  ship  to  get  relief  from  the  strain  of  shore  life. 

Whether  or  not  one  can  find  recreation  in  this  or  that 
activity  depends  then  upon  the  individual's  experience 
of  satisfying  contrast  and  release  in  this  activity,  and 
upon  the  mood  in  which  he  finds  himself.  Whether  or 
not  this  or  that  recreation  activity  is  desirable  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  individual's  welfare  depends  upon 
the  effect  this  activity  has  upon  him.  Drink  may  afford 
a  satisfying  release  from  the  strain  of  worry.  This  gives 
it  recreational  value  to  many.  But  the  consequences 
are  too  serious  to  justify  its  use  for  this  purpose.  Gam- 
bling is  undoubtedly  a  splendid  recreation  to  many  a 
man  who  is  in  need  of  emotional  excitement,  or  who  has 
acquired  the  habit  of  constant  excitement  in  his  work. 
But  its  use  as  a  form  of  recreation  is  influenced  by  the 
effects  upon  the  gambler.  We  must  find  for  each  an 
activity  that  will  both  bring  the  required  release  and 
have  valuable,  not  disastrous,  consequences. 

In  general  it  may  be  said  that  individuals  who  have 
acquired  definite  interests  outside  of  their  work  find 
recreation  in  the  pursuit  of  these  interests.  The  man 
who  hkes  to  make  furniture  turns  to  this  handicraft  in 
his  leisure,  whether  he  is  a  teacher  or  a  mechanic,  and 
finds  in  designing  and  building  cabinets  and  chairs  the 
sort  of  release  that  satisfies.  Those  who  have  no  such 
well  developed  interest,  however,  are  forced  to  depend 
on  others  for  their  recreation.  What  they  do  will 
depend  upon  the  nature  of  their  work.  If  they  have  an 
interesting  occupation  which  affords  scope  for  initiative 
and  the  satisfaction  of  ambition,  the  recreation  sought 


WORK  AND  PLAY  219 

will  very  likely  be  of  the  kind  to  stimulate  the  incipient 
activity  of  strong  instincts,  as  in  the  drama,  vaudeville, 
baseball  fanning,  dancing,  reading,  courtship,  cards. 
Entertainment  which  can  be  passively  witnessed  and 
which  will  not  be  too  exciting  is  desired.  Some,  of 
course,  turn  to  sport:  athletic  games,  hunting,  fishing, 
and  so  on;  but  these  usually  have  a  well  developed 
interest  in  these  directions  which  thus  finds  outlet  after 
being  restrained  from  activity  by  the  confinement  of 
work.  Those  who  are  engaged  in  mechanical  work, 
the  repetition  of  the  same  physical  or  mental  operation 
for  hours  at  a  stretch,  or  for  whom  work  has  become 
mere  routine  requiring  no  mental  effort  or  intelHgent 
control,  find  recreation  in  excitement  and  emotional 
experiences.  They  have  been  irritated  by  constant 
repetition  of  one  kind  of  response.  They  are  ready  to 
explode  not  in  the  specific  direction  afforded  by  a  hobby 
or  well  developed  creative  interest,  but  in  all  directions. 
Diffuse  emotional  excitement  is  therefore  what  they 
prefer:  the  movie,  dancing,  flirting,  the  noise  and  Hghts 
and  loud  comedy  of  the  amusement  park,  drinking, 
gambling,  all  that  brings  laughter,  shouting,  crying,  and 
mental  excitement.  When  such  emotional  experiences 
are  unavailable,  there  is  chafing,  depression,  instabihty 
or  dulness.^ 

Many  find  in  religion,  as  we  have  seen,  an  antidote  to 
almost  any  kind  of  work.     Religion  is  protean  in  form 

1  If  it  be  true,  as  W.  B.  Cannon  holds,  in  his  Bodily  Changes  in  Pain,  Hunger, 
Fear  and  Raije,  that  adrenalin  is  secreted  under  conditions  of  emotional  excite- 
ment, and  that  adrenalin  acts  as  an  anti-toxin  to  the  toxins  of  physiological  fatigue, 
then  this  accounts  for  the  recreating  effect  of  emotional  excitement  for  those  who 
are  muscularly  fatigued.  The  mentally  fatigued,  however,  should  have  non- 
emotional  recreation,  inasmuch  as  emotional  excitement,  when  not  needed  for 
recuperation,  will  provide  an  oversupply  of  physiological  stimulant  and  induce 
vascular  and  digestive  derangements,  as  in  the  case  of  fear. 

Under  conditions  of  adult  life,  joyous  excitement  seems  to  provide  a  much  needed 
stimulant  for  the  maintenance  of  mental  and  physical  health.  Readers  are  re- 
ferred to  books  listed  in  Appendix  II,  Nos.  114, 115,  116,  125. 


220         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

and  satisfies  the  desire  of  every  living  thing.  The  young 
people's  meeting,  for  example,  is  an  opportunity  for 
religious  emotion,  for  courtship,  for  the  exercise  of  leader- 
ship and  initiative,  for  the  adventurous  participation 
in  prayer,  or  the  display  of  one's  powers  as  a  speaker, 
for  singing,  and  laughter  and  love.  Finding  such  things 
better  provided  for  elsewhere,  young  people  today, 
especially  young  men,  tend  to  omit  the  prayer  meeting 
from  their  weekly  schedule.  There  is  not  sufficient 
"  recreation  "  here  for  them. 

Childhood  Recreation.  What  sort  of  recreation 
do  children  need  to  balance  up  the  day's  work  in  which 
society  has  engaged  them?  This  will  all  depend  upon 
the  character  of  their  school  work,  and  of  any  other 
tasks  which  society  or  nature  may  require  of  them. 
The  newer  schools  are  giving  children  a  chance  to  be 
individuals  rather  than  cog-wheels.  They  do  not  be- 
come so  fatigued  by  school.  Recreation  or  rehef  from 
the  more  rigid  types  of  work,  such  as  drill  in  arithme- 
tic, is  provided  for  in  the  school  itself.  Even  so,  however, 
the  whole  system  is  a  constraint,  from  which  the  child 
bursts  forth  with  joy,  just  as  he  returns  to  it  with  joy. 
But  any  kind  of  play  will  do  as  a  mere  recreation.  Let 
alone,  the  child,  when  released,  will  pursue  interests 
begun  in  school,  or  will  revert  to  the  biological  plays: 
running,  fighting,  climbing,  imitating  adults,  building, 
housekeeping.  He  needs  a  place  to  play  more  than 
anything  else,  and  will  get  recreation  out  of  the  most 
meager  equipment.  With  almost  inexhaustible  interests, 
he  usually  has  no  difficulty  in  knowing  what  to  do  with 
his  leisure. 

His  initiative,  however,  may  run  the  gamut  of  his 
games  and  be  at  a  loss  what  to  do  next.     Or  he  may  have 


WORK  AND  PLAY  221 

so  many  budding  interests  that  they  interfere  with  one 
another.  Sometimes  he  has  so  many  toys  or  possibiK- 
ties  of  action,  he  cannot  choose  among  them,  and  is  in  the 
state  of  mind  of  the  ass  who  found  himself  half-way 
between  two  hay  mows,  and  starved  to  death  before  he 
could  decide  which  one  to  go  to.  This  is  the  typical 
Sunday  afternoon  problem:  "  Mama,  what  can  I  do?" 
It  comes  from  the  six-year-old  and  from  the  fourteen- 
year-old  ahke.  Probably  what  these  children  need  is 
not  recreation  but  work.  They  are  sick  of  recreating. 
The  natural  alternation  between  work  and  play  is 
interrupted  by  the  Sunday  schedule.  They  want  some- 
thing given  them  to  do.  They  want  a  task.  They  need 
to  be  set  going.  The  social  mechanism  that  keeps  them 
going  during  the  week  has  stopped  running,  so  they  stop 
running  too.  The  remedy  is  a  social  mechanism  of  the 
family  circle  developed  for  Sunday  with  the  children's 
leisure  in  mind.  Let  the  family  as  a  whole  do  something, 
an  excursion,  reading  aloud,  a  '^  Sunday  afternoon  club  " 
in  which  all  take  part,  and  there  will  be  no  requests  for 
"  something  to  do." 

The  use  of  recreation  as  an  educational  force  is  com- 
ing to  be  widely  recognized.  The  work  of  the  Play- 
ground and  Recreation  Association  of  America,  the 
increase  of  supervised  play  in  schools,  the  building  of 
gymnasiums  and  club  rooms  in  connection  with  churches, 
the  astonishing  spread  of  Scouting  and  Hke  movements, 
the  organization  of  recreation  in  and  around  the  training 
camps,  the  appearance  of  many  books  on  play,  the  use 
of  the  festival,  the  pageant  and  the  drama  in  connection 
with  both  public  and  church  schools  —  all  these  things 
bear  witness  to  the  awakening  of  our  people  to  the  signifi- 
cance of  play  as  a  means  of  education  both  for  work  and 


222         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

for  leisure.  If  play  is  a  function  of  childhood,  work  is 
a  function  of  adulthood.  As  part  of  play  is  to  anticipate 
adult  functions,  so  children  naturally  play  at  "  work." 
But,  granted  the  necessity  of  work,  recreation  is  also  an 
adult  function.  Children,  therefore,  play  at  grown-up 
recreation,  and  so  develop  interests  that  will  subse- 
quently be  pursued  in  hours  of  leisure.  In  their  play 
we  must  help  them  to  anticipate  adult  experience 
in  all  its  phases,  to  learn  control  and  cooperation, 
to  learn  the  value  of  a  purpose  and  the  satisfaction 
of  creation. 

It  is  our  duty,  therefore,  to  do  everything  we  can  to 
promote  the  recreation  movement,  and  to  provide  for 
children  and  young  people  the  sort  of  play  that  will 
develop,  not  destroy,  their  powers. 

Work  and  Education.  But  "  playing  at  "  work 
is  not  working.  Should  children  really  work?  Should 
the  attitudes  and  consequences  characteristic  of  real 
work  be  taught  them?  Should  they  always  be  com- 
pletely sheltered  from  ultimate  consequences,  from  the 
impingement  of  social  obUgations?  The  school  life 
makes  provision  in  the  experience  of  the  child  for  what, 
to  an  adult,  is  work.  Whenever  children  are  allowed  to 
make  anything  of  marketable  value  and  to  sell  it  for 
American  money,  this  is  work.  If  they  can  buy  with 
their  legitimate  savings  or  earnings  in  the  open  market 
and  take  the  consequences  of  their  judgment,  this  is 
work.  If  they  can  keep  an  account  of  their  income  and 
expenditures  and  have  their  accounts  audited,  this  is 
work.  If  they  could  be  responsible  to  the  state  for 
certain  social  duties,  such  as  raising  vegetables  and 
flowers,  sweeping  house-paths,  shoveling  snow  from 
walks,  policing  playgrounds  and  schools,  making  equip- 


WORK  AND  PLAY  223 

ment  for  younger  children,  printing  church  bulletins, 
caring  for  certain  phases  of  school  government  —  if 
they  could  be  responsible  to  the  state  for  such  matters, 
be  given  absolute  control,  and  be  subject  to  no  one  but 
the  elected  officers  of  government  among  whom  they 
would  be  represented,^  we  would  have  here  not  "  play 
at  "  work,  but  work  itself,  by  which  the  children  would 
be  trained  in  the  attitudes  as  well  as  the  activities  of 
work.  The  actual  deeds  would  be  the  same,  but  the 
spirit  of  work  would  transform  them  into  true  social 
functions,  for  the  children  would  be  doing  work  by  which 
they  would  be  educated,  not  work  by  which  they  are 
prevented  from  being  educated,  as  is  the  case  in  factories 
and  mines  and  sweatshops. 

In  religious  education  there  must  be  provision  for 
programs  both  of  work  and  play.  There  must  be  real 
religious  work  and  play  at  forms  of  religious  work  into 
which  the  children  shall  grow.  And  there  must  also  be 
recreation  or  relief  from  the  work  that  society  imposes 
properly  or  improperly  on  childhood. 

The  Program  of  Work.  The  church  school  should 
of  course  set  its  face  against  "  child  labor  "  and  all 
forms  of  exploitation  of  childhood  by  employers,  schools 
and  parents.  The  children  themselves  can  be  enlisted 
in  the  effort  to  secure  for  every  child  adequate  op- 
portunities for  education  and  health.  The  school  should 
also  promote  such  public-school  and  community  move- 
ments as  will  recognize  the  true  place  of  children  in 
society  and  will  provide  them  with  suitable  work.  In 
this,  too,  the  cooperation  of  the  children  themselves 
is  of  great  value. 

'  See  article  by  G.  A.  Coe,  on  The  Functiont  of  Childrtn  in  Religious  Education 
for  February,  1918,  XIII,  1.  p.  26. 


224         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

The  preparation  of  a  program  of  work  for  the  children 
of  the  local  church  would  require  an  analysis  of  church 
functions  and  the  assignment,  to  children  of  different 
ages  and  abilities,  of  functions  appropriate  to  them  and 
of  educational  value.  Looking  after  class  affairs  such  as 
the  treasury,  the  attendance  records,  the  causes  of  ab- 
sence, the  securing  of  new  pupils,  the  preparation  of  a 
class  exhibit;  participation  in  community  betterment 
or  individual  relief  work;  the  performance  of  school 
duties  such  as  the  choir,  ushering,  the  bulletin  boards, 
care  of  materials,  participation  in  the  leadership  of 
assemblies,  school  government,  the  management  of 
school  festivals  and  picnics,  preparing  an  exhibit;  the 
performance  of  church  duties,  ushering,  printing,  mes- 
senger service,  decorations,  care  of  property,  attention 
to  shut-ins,  assistance  in  surveys  and  campaigns,  sing- 
ing in  choir  —  all  these  and  many  other  necessary  activi- 
ties could  be  graded  and  distributed  among  the  children 
so  that  every  child  would  take  his  turn  at  a  social  duty 
every  year.  Training  for  specialized  forms  of  service 
would  of  course  be  a  part  of  the  work  of  young  people, 
and  should  be  recognized  as  just  as  much  ''  work  "  as 
singing  in  the  choir. 

The  Program  of  Play.  When  play  is  "provided 
for,^'  or  a  program  of  play  is  "  prepared,*'  play  loses 
something  of  its  native  spontaneity  and  its  value  as  a 
form  of  complete  self-expression.  A  true  program  of 
play  would  be  a  gap  in  the  day's  work  in  which  each  child 
could  do  exactly  as  he  pleased.  At  all  events,  to  main- 
tain anything  of  its  spirit,  play  must  be  voluntary,  not 
required,  and  children  should  be  allowed  scope  for  both 
initiative  and  choice. 

There  are  many  activities  in  which  children  are  too 


WORK  AND  PLAY  225 

young  to  assume  full  responsibility  but  which  they 
enjoy  playing  at.  Dramatizing,  both  spontaneous  and 
formal,  can  be  utilized  to  give  insight  into  many  future 
activities  as  well  as  to  make  vivid  a  Biblical  event,  or  a 
mission  field.  Here  belong  church  pageants  which  por- 
tray the  work  of  the  church  or  of  some  related  insti- 
tution,^ as  well  as  the  childish  imitations  of  church 
services,  representation  of  stories  of  Red  Cross  work, 
the  "  pioneering "  of  Boy  Scouts,  the  domestic  dis- 
cipline of  Camp  Fire  Girls,  the  chivalry  of  the  Knights 
of  King  Arthur,  the  Indian  lore  of  the  Woodcraft 
League. 

But  of  equal  importance  are  all  games  that  afford 
opportunity  for  learning  elemental  forms  of  self-control 
and  cooperation.  The  play  spirit,  the  idea  of  sportsman- 
ship, the  "  rules  of  the  game,"  habits  of  courtesy  and 
forbearance  and  comradeship  are  all  learned  in  the  art  of 
playing  cooperative  and  competitive  games,  where  in 
the  heat  of  friendly  strife  and  individual  strain,  in  the 
joy  of  physical  activity  and  the  excitement  of  conflict, 
the  habits  are  built  up  that  make  the  difference  between 
clean  and  dirty  playing.  In  situations  of  Uke  character 
these  habits  will  work,  and,  as  men  and  women  play 
games  all  their  Uves,  this  training  is  of  fundamental 
importance.  Without  special  effort  to  form  ideals  and 
habits  of  true  sportsmanship  in  other  activities  also, 
however,  there  is  no  assurance  that  the  boy  who  learns 
to  play  fair  in  baseball  will  also  play  fair  in  business 
relations.  Fair  play  in  work  must  be  learned  in  the 
''  program  of  work  "  by  working  fairly. 

The  Program  of  Recreation.  Recreation  as  we 
have  seen  is  not  distinguished  in  its  activities  from  either 

»  See  A  Pageant  of  the  Church  by  Misses  Stone,  and  Forman,  Y.  W.  C.  A.  Press. 


226         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

play  or  work.  Play  is  the  customary  form  of  recreation 
for  children.  It  affords  the  needed  change  from  the 
physical  constraint  of  the  classroom  and  the  social 
restraint  of  "  duties/'  The  kind  of  recreation  that  is 
provided  for  each  age  will  depend  upon  what  else  the 
children  of  each  age  are  doing.  Recreation  is  a  balanc- 
ing occupation,  maintaining  equilibrium.  As  it  has  to 
be  continued  through  life,  it  must  not  only  be  engaged 
in  for  its  own  sake  but  must  be  prepared  for.  Children 
should  develop  interests  that  will  afford  recreation  as 
they  grow  older.  Many  a  man's  life  has  been  saved  by 
an  absorbing  interest  in  stones,  or  bugs,  or  birds,  or 
flowers,  or  camp-craft,  or  photography,  started  in  youth. 
Some  of  course  are  capable  of  beginning  such  interests 
late  in  Hfe,  but  for  most  people  these  avocations  and 
hobbies  will  be  started  in  youth  or  not  at  all. 

But  it  is  not  only  the  grown  person  that  is  fortunate 
in  having  a  hobby.  The  high-school  or  college  boy  or 
girl  is  provided  with  a  splendid  safeguard  against  many 
temptations  who  has  some  regulating  interest,  such  as 
dogs,  or  electricity,  or  music,  or  art,  with  which  to 
occupy  his  mind  during  leisure  hours.  And  the  boy  or 
girl  at  work  is  sadly  handicapped  who  has  no  big,  com- 
pelhng,  creative  activity  to  turn  to  when  work  is  done. 
We  must  begin  early  to  start  going  many  lines  of  interest 
in  the  hope  that  at  least  one  will  stick,  which  will  later 
provide  suitable  relief  from  whatever  work  the  young 
man  or  woman  may  choose. 

This  training  for  recreation  may  be  a  part  of  the 
child's  work  or  play  or  recreation.  Out  of  the  study  of 
botany,  geology,  biology,  physics  and  all  the  rest  come 
many  avocational  interests  in  the  pursuit  of  which  a 
man  finds  his  freedom  and  joy.    Out  of  games  and  sports 


WORK  AND  PLAY  227 

of  youth,  many  a  person  develops  lasting  athletic 
interests.  Out  of  organized  recreational  activities,  Uke 
the  Boy  or  Girl  Scouts,  come  general  interests  such  as 
camp-craft,  which  endure  as  forms  of  adult  recreation. 
Our  program  of  recreation,  therefore,  must  be  antici- 
pated for  each  age  by  preparation  in  the  years  preceding, 
as  well  as  organized  for  any  age  with  reference  to  the^ 
dominant  work  activities  of  that  age.  For  the  younger 
children,  recreation  may  well  be  merely  free  play.-- 
For  boys  and  girls,  the  usual  games  and  plays  may  be  an 
insufficient  antidote  to  the  school  work,  and  such  or- 
ganized recreations  as  are  provided  in  the  Pioneers, 
Brownies,  Boy  Rangers,  will  be  needed.  And  in  adoles- 
cence play  will  be  almost  wholly  confined  to  the  few 
hours  available  for  recuperation  from  work,  and  will, 
therefore,  be  almost  wholly  determined  by  the  nature  of 
the  work.  Segregation  of  the  sexes  must  be  counter- 
balanced by  mixed  parties;  study,  by  scouting  or 
athletic  sports;  prescribed  reading  or  prescribed  book- 
keeping, by  creative  activities  in  the  writing  and  giving 
of  plays;  mechanical  work,  by  dancing,  music,  scouting, 
athletics,  and  such  creative  work  as  can  be  done. 

For  each  age  there  will  be  work  and  play.  As  work 
gradually  increases  and  encroaches  on  play,  care  must 
be  taken  that  sufficient  time  is  left  for  the  recreative 
effects  of  play,  and  that  play  properly  counterbalances 
and  relieves  work.  Programs  of  play  then  become 
chiefly  programs  of  recreation,  through  which  the 
individual  is  not  only  physically  recuperated  for  more 
work,  but  also  spiritually  enriched  by  engaging  in  activi- 
ties of  value  in  themselves  as  the  means  of  full  and  free 
self-expression. 


228         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY  AND  OBSERVATION 

1.  Which  do  children  enjoy  more,  supervised  or  unsupervised 
play? 

2.  Suggest  a  graded  program  of  work  for  children  by  which  they 
shall  perform  a  real  service  to  the  community  or  church  or  home,  and 
be  trained  for  future  work  in  the  Christian  democracy.  Help  will 
be  found  in  Graded  Social  Service  for  the  Sunday  School,  by  W.  N. 
Hutchins. 

3.  Suggest  a  graded  program  of  play  for  children,  by  which  they 
shall  play  at  important  rehgious  activities  in  which  they  shall  later 
engage,  and  by  which  they  shall  secure  training  in  Christian  sports- 
manship. Help  will  be  found  in  Play  and  Education,  by  Joseph  Lee; 
Education  hy  Plays  and  Games,  by  G.  E.  Johnson;  The  Dramatic 
Instinct  in  Education,  by  E.  W.  Curtis;  The  Dramatization  of  Bible 
Stories,  by  EHzabeth  E.  Miller. 

4.  Suggest  a  graded  program  of  recreation  and  training  for  recrea- 
tion, providing  for  the  proper  use  of  play  as  an  antidote  to  work 
and  as  an  opportunity  for  self-realization.  Help  will  be  found  in 
the  books  just  named  and  also  in  Recreation 'and  the  Church,  by 
H.  W.  Gates. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
CHARACTER 

Discipline  for  Democracy 

"  I  am  the  master  of  my  fate, 
I  am  the  captain  of  my  soul." 
—  Henley. 

Character  and  Democracy.  The  preceding  discus- 
sions have  tended  toward  this  conclusion:  Character 
is  not  a  mechanical  way  of  doing  things  imposed  by 
society  upon  individuals.  Neither  is  it  a  sort  of  super- 
social  will  which  an  individual  imposes  upon  society. 
It  is  rather  a  deliberate  responsiveness  to  social  need, 
a  responsiveness  which  looks  toward  a  social  ideal  that 
has  been  consciously  adopted  by  the  individual  as  his 
own.  Such  responsiveness  is  not  original  in  man's 
nature.  Neither  can  it  be  forced  upon  a  man  by  law 
or  custom.  Law  and  custom  alone  would  tend  to  make 
the  individual  mechanically  responsive,  not  deliberately 
and  freely  responsive,  to  the  needs  of  society.  One  who 
is  trained  merely  to  obey  orders  has  no  character  at  all. 
He  is  only  a  tool,  a  machine.  Democracy  is  a  theory  of 
character  as  well  as  a  theory  of  social  organization. 
The  two  things  go  together.  The  individual  is  the 
sort  of  person  the  state  allows  him  to  become.  The 
state  is  the  kind  of  state  that  its  individual  members 
make  it.  Autocratic  forms  of  social  organization  can- 
not allow  individual  freedom,  or  character,  among  sub- 
jects. A  state  whose  members  possessed  "  character  " 
would  not  be  an  autocracy.     Democracy  is  character  in 

229 


230         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

terms  of  social  organization.  Character  is  democracy 
in  terms  of  its  individual  components.  They  are  two 
aspects  of  the  identical  thing.  Democracy,  except  as 
an  ideal,  is  not  something  which  exists  in  the  world 
independently  of  the  character  of  its  individual  members. 
Nor  is  character  something  which  exists  in  individuals 
independently  of  their  life  in  social  groups.  Men 
achieve  character  only  by  living  together,  and  by  exactly 
the  same  process  and  at  the  same  time  they  are  a  so- 
ciety or  social  group.  If  the  individuals  in  the  group 
live  together  by  exploiting  one  another,  or  by  submitting 
to  some  external  authority,  or  by  training  some  members 
to  obey  and  others  to  rule,  we  have  neither  character 
nor  democracy.  But  if  they  Hve  together  by  dehberately 
cooperating  for  the  common  good,  submitting  to  the 
common  will,  and  training  all  to  serve,  each  according 
to  his  abihty,  we  have  both  character  and  democracy. 

Christianity  and  Democracy.  Christianity  is  com- 
ing to  throw  the  weight  of  its  influence  on  the  side  of 
democracy,  although  its  history  has  not  been  free  from 
the  theory  and  practise  of  autocracy.  Jesus  revolted 
against  the  spiritual  autocracy  of  his  day  in  the  interest 
of  spiritual  democracy.  His  followers  soon  set  up  an 
ecclesiastical  autocracy  that  survives  now  as  the  Roman 
Church.  At  the  time  of  the  Reformation  there  came  a 
reaction  against  this  absolutism  of  the  church  in  the 
interest  of  ecclesiastical  democracy.  And  later,  as  part 
of  the  same  movement,  in  France  and  England  and 
America,  there  came  a  reaction  against  the  divine  right 
of  kings  and  princes  in  the  interest  of  poUtical  democracy. 
None  of  these  movements  has  completed  its  course. 
ReHgious  customs,  religious  organizations,  states,  still 
largely   dominate   individuals,   preserving  the   ancient 


CHARACTER  231 

order  of  autocracy,  and  consistently  opposing  all  move- 
ments for  the  development  of  self -directing  character. 
And  now,  in  these  latter  days,  revolt  is  rapidly  spreading 
against  plutocratic  control  of  the  processes  of  industry 
in  the  interest  of  industrial  democracy.  This  move- 
ment cannot  be  dissociated  from  the  rest,  because  of 
the  interlacing  of  all  the  forces  of  autocracy,  spiritual, 
ecclesiastical,  poUtical  and  industrial.  One  after  an- 
other of  these  revolts  against  authority  is  being  es- 
poused by  Christianity.  More  and  more  clearly  the 
lines  are  being  drawn  between  the  power  of  privilege  in 
high  places  and  the  power  of  the  people.  More  and  more 
clearly  the  issues  of  the  great  World  War  have  been 
stated  in  terms  of  democracy  against  autocracy,  and 
over  the  whole  world,  these  two  fundamental  forces 
are  being  arrayed  against  each  other  in  more  and  more 
open  conflict.     Whichever  way  we  turn,  the  fight  is  on. 

Education  and  Democracy.  Shall  we  educate  for 
democracy  or  for  autocracy?  Shall  we  develop  indi- 
viduals whose  function  it  is  to  direct  themselves  by 
the  Ught  of  a  social  ideal  toward  which  they  freely 
and  gladly  move,  or  shall  we  develop  individuals  whose 
function  it  is  to  obey  other  individuals  so  that  these 
other  individuals  may  reap  the  fruits  of  their  obedient 
and  docile  labor?  Machines,  or  human  beings  —  we 
must  choose  which  we  shall  make  of  our  children.  If 
we  are  free  to  choose,  or  are  not  already  so  well  regi- 
mented by  our  own  training  as  to  be  incapable  of  choice, 
we  shall  of  course  choose  democracy.  Wherever  there 
is  real  choice  there  is  democracy  already,  and  our  con- 
clusion is  foregone. 

Self-Direction.  If  democracy  be  the  outcome  we 
desire  for  our  educational  process,  we  shall  have  to  pro- 


232         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

vide  for  certain  elements  in  that  process  which  will  make 
for  the  development  of  character,  of  deliberate  re- 
sponsiveness to  the  social  need  in  the  direction  of  a  social 
ideal.  And  if  we  are  to  characterize  further  our  social 
ideal  as  "  Christian,"  we  shall  have  to  add  to  these 
fundamental  elements  whatever  we  understand  by  the 
Christian  standard  of  character  and  of  society.  All 
through  our  educational  process,  from  the  cradle  to 
graduation  from  school,  we  shall  have  in  mind  the  self- 
directing  individual  who  forms  an  integral  part  of  a 
democratic  society,  increasingly  controlled  by  Christian 
motives.  To  say  that  a  child  has  a  right  to  self -direct  ion 
from  the  beginning  seems  rank  absurdity.  Let  us  chal- 
lenge our  thought  by  putting  it  even  more  strongly: 
a  child  has  the  duty  of  self -direction  from  the  beginning 
if  he  is  to  be  a  member  of  a  democratic  society!  It  is 
no  less  absurd  to  say  a  man  is  not  fit  to  be  a  member  of  a 
democratic  society  because  society  says  to  him,  **  You 
shall  not  drink  intoxicating  hquors,"  than  it  is  to  say 
a  child  is  not  fit  to  be  a  member  of  a  democratic 
society  because  society,  through  the  agency  of  the  family, 
says,  "  You  shall  not  eat  what  will  prevent  your  being  a 
healthy  child. '^  It  is  just  a  matter  of  degree.  As 
rapidly  as  possible,  within  the  field  where  choice  per- 
mits a  process  of  learning  to  take  place,  choice  must  be 
made,  else  the  power  to  choose  will  be  distorted  or  never 
developed.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  field  of  self -direction 
is  considerable,  even  with  a  baby.  He  gurgles  and  coos 
and  moves  his  arms  around,  following  his  mother  with 
his  eyes  until  he  can  follow  her  with  his  feet.  Within 
limits  set  by  the  good  of  the  group  of  which  he  is  a  part, 
he  has  his  own  way,  playing  as  he  pleases.  But  the 
range  of  choice  might  be  considerably  extended  in  the 


►^ 


CHARACTER  233 

average  home,  and  the  children  might  have  a  far  larger 
share  in  the  determination  of  the  family  life,  by  which 
they  would  learn  a  vast  deal  about  practical  democracy. 

Only  by  having  an  experience  of  social  responsibility 
can  children  contrast  the  effects  of  cooperating  and  of 
failing  to  cooperate,  and  so  learn  to  direct  themselves. 
If  they  are  always  under  the  autocratic  control  of 
parents,  submitting  to  them  in  every  last  detail  when 
an  issue  arises,  they  will  be  well  trained  for  submission 
to  the  authority  of  other  forms  of  privilege  later  on. 

This  story  is  told  by  a  prominent  American  educator 
about  his  son,  a  lad  of  eight  years.  The  boy  said  one 
day,  '*  Papa,  you  and  mamma  are  just  tyrants.  I 
always  have  to  do  just  as  you  say."  The  father  said 
he  was  sorry  he  felt  that  way  about  it  and  explained 
that  mother  and  father  were  older  and  knew  best  what 
was  good  for  little  boys,  and  only  wanted  him  to  do  what 
was  good  for  him.  "  That  doesn't  make  any  difference. 
I  have  to  do  as  you  say."  "  Well,"  said  the  father, 
"  you  know  you  don't  have  to  do  as  I  say.  You  really 
can  do  just  as  you  please."  "  Oh,  can  I?  "  said  the  boy. 
"  Why  yes,"  said  the  father.  *'  See,  here's  my  pocket- 
book.  You  take  it,  and  do  just  as  you  please,  and 
I'll  not  stop  you."  With  a  whoop  the  boy  ran  upstairs 
and  began  to  pack  his  suit-case  to  go  somewhere.  The 
father  began  to  be  a  bit  nervous,  but  he  decided  he'd 
see  it  through.  Pretty  soon,  the  boy  came  to  his  night 
clothes,  and  then  he  must  have  thought  of  how  lone- 
some it  would  be  to  go  to  bed  at  night  without  his 
mother,  for  he  came  softly  downstairs  again  and  said  to 
his  father,  "  I  think  I'd  better  take  mother  with  me." 
And  that  was  the  end  of  his  independence.  He  had  dis- 
covered his  place  in  the  family  group  not  by  being 


234         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

"  shown  his  place  "  but  by  tr3dng  to  fill  a  place  too  big 
for  him. 

Only  in  real  social  experience  can  the  knowledge  of 
one's  real  social  function  be  obtained,  and  just  to  the 
degree  that  this  knowledge  is  one's  own  will  one  possess 
character,  and  be  a  democratic  citizen  rather  than  the 
subject  of  an  autocrat.  Self-knowledge  is  essential  to 
character. 

Self- Knowledge.  Many  have  feared  that  knowl- 
edge of  one's  own  abiUty  or  inability  to  perform  social 
functions  was  appropriate  only  to  adolescence,  and  that 
children  should  be  unconsciously  inducted  into  the  habits 
of  correct  behavior  much  as  a  sapling  grows,  it  knows 
not  how,  into  the  great  tree.  But  children  grow  up  in  a 
society  which  automatically  approves  and  disapproves, 
and  which  stamps  its  sanction  upon  certain  acts  called 
"  good  "  and  its  veto  on  certain  acts  called  "  bad."  A 
child  cannot  help  knowing  that  some  kinds  of  acts,  if 
known,  will  be  called  good,  and  some  bad,  and  that  the 
same  words  will  be  appKed  to  himself.  This  is  the  begin- 
ning of  his  notion  of  right  and  wrong.  Any  puppy  can 
learn  as  much  by  proper  punishments  and  rewards  and 
will  show  the  same  signs  of  a  guilty  conscience  that  a 
child  does  when  detected  in  the  act  called  "  bad."  The 
unconscious  type  of  moraUty  leaves  children  pretty  much 
on  the  puppy  level,  and  does  them  and  society  gross 
injustice.  It  defeats  our  purpose  to  educate  for  democ- 
racy by  denying  the  child  the  right  and  the  duty  to  be  a 
human  being. 

The  opposite  of  this  method  is  to  help  the  child  to  a 
real  knowledge  of  himself  and  of  his  motives  and  pur- 
poses so  that  he  knows  "goodness,"  not  in  terms  of  a  word 
arbitrarily  applied  to  some  acts  and  not  to  others,  but 


CHARACTER  235 

in  terms  of  the  results  of  his  behavior;  in  particular, 
the  effects  which  lead  others  to  approve  or  disapprove 
of  it.  Instead  of  constantly  interposing  its  judgment 
between  a  child  and  the  results  of  his  acts,  and  so  pre- 
venting him  from  forming  judgments  on  the  basis  of 
facts,  society  must  let  the  child  see  the  thing  through  and 
so  arrive  at  the  same  source  of  knowledge  that  his  elders 
have.  Obviously  we  must  not  let  a  child  kill  himself  by 
experimenting  too  soon  in  a  compUcated  environment 
for  which  nature  did  not  equip  him.  But  experiment 
he  must,  and  as  widely  as  safety  permits.  Very  likely, 
also,  if  we  take  the  comfort  of  children  into  account, 
as  well  as  the  comfort  of  adults,  many  customs  concern- 
ing the  "  proper  "  behavior  of  children  will  be  changed. 
Democracy  requires  mutual  forbearance,  and  adults 
as  well  as  children  will  have  to  yield  to  the  common 
interest.  Adults  as  well  as  children  need  discipUne  for 
democracy. 

Self -Discipline.  We  have  spoken  of  self-knowledge 
and  self-direction  as  essential  to  democratic  character. 
The  kind  of  discipUne  a  democratic  society  will  provide 
is  the  kind  that  will  lead  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  self- 
discipline.  As  soon  as  the  individual,  whether  he  be  six 
or  fifty,  learns  how  to  direct  his  own  conduct  toward 
social  ends,  and,  therefore,  to  discipline  himself,  the 
discipline  of  society  ceases.  Society  steps  in  at  the  point 
where  an  individual  has  not  yet  achieved  control  of 
himself,  and  helps  toward  self-control.  Or,  to  put  it 
the  other  way  around,  society  steps  out  from  control 
just  as  rapidly  as  the  individual  learns  to  control  him- 
self; hut  it  gives  him  every  chance  to  learn.  That  is,  it 
provides  him  with  the  kind  of  discipline  that  will  emanci- 
pate   him.     Children    desire    this    kind    of    discipline. 


236         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

Frequently  they  are  glad  to  be  freed  by  punishment  or 
encouragement  from  the  dominance  of  some  mood  or 
desire.  When  a  child  is  asked  why  he  does  not  behave, 
a  frequent  answer  is,  "  Because  I  can^t,"  and,  unless 
the  misdeed  is  really  trivial,  the  child  will  welcome  the 
means  that  will  lead  to  self-control. 

Social  Control  for  Self-Discipline.  The  agent  of 
this  social  control  which  looks  toward  the  freeing  of 
the  individual  from  external  constraint  is  sometimes  the 
family,  sometimes  the  class,  sometimes  the  club,  or  the 
unorganized  play  groups.  But  the  control  is  exercised 
for  the  sake  of  the  larger  society  only  when  some  one  is 
present  who  can  act  for  the  larger  society,  and  mediate 
its  authority.  This  the  parents  and  teachers  do,  some- 
times well  and  sometimes  poorly.  But  when  social 
discipline  is  necessary  to  preserve  the  life  of  the  group, 
it  is  not  the  parentis  or  teacher's  private  will  that  rules, 
but  the  will  of  society.  This  the  individual  child  should 
be  made  aware  of  as  soon  as  he  can  understand  any  sort 
of  social  control.  It  is  an  interesting  question  how  far 
this  social  will  back  of  the  parent  or  teacher  should  be 
thought  of  as  the  will  of  the  ideal  society,  or  the  will  of 
God,  and  how  far  it  should  be  regarded  as  the  will  of  the 
state.  So  far  as  the  will  of  the  state  is  expressed  in 
laws,  it  is  generally  easy  to  answer  this  question.  The 
ideal  social  will  and  the  will  of  the  state  are  here  fre- 
quently identical.  But  in  the  case  of  conduct  outside 
of  existing  law,  or  in  the  case  of  ideals  of  conduct  which 
contradict  legal  standards,  the  question  is  more  difficult 
to  answer.  The  present  state  law  may  contradict  the 
demands  of  an  ideal  society  just  as  many  of  the  old 
"  blue  laws  ''  of  Pennsylvania  and  Connecticut  contra- 
dict modern  standards.     But  the  state  itself  is  in  the 


\ 


CHARACTER  237 

process  of  becoming  more  democratic,  and  therefore 
more  moral,  and  must  consequently  be  supported  at  its 
present  level  as  well  as  urged  on  to  higher  levels. 

There  should  be  no  hesitation  in  training  children  to 
obedience  to  the  ideal  world  society,  if  we  are  sincere 
in  our  intent  to  gain  the  conditions  of  peace.  No  disci- 
pline for  any  kind  of  autocracy  will  be  tolerable.  De- 
mocracy will  one  day  come  to  its  own  in  church  and 
state  and  industry,  and  therefore  in  the  school,  and  back 
of  every  teacher  and  every  parent  will  be  the  will  of  the 
ideal  society. 

The  New  Character.  This  idea  of  character  and 
the  method  of  its  achievement  will  lead  to  many  changes 
in  our  educational  practise.  The  most  notable  change 
will  probably  be  in  the  direction  of  a  clearer  definition 
of  character  in  terms  of  the  intelhgent  control  of  social 
activity,  and  the  effort  to  measure  achievement  in 
character.  By  observation  and  experiment  we  shall 
have  to  discover  what  the  standards  of  moral  achieve- 
ment are  for  each  stage  of  childhood.  In  terms  of  actual 
behavior  in  actual  situations,  what  is  it  to  be  "  good  " 
at  a  given  age?  How  Christian  can  a  child  of  six  really 
be?  And  how  much  progress  can  he  be  expected  to 
make  in  a  year?  What  good  habits  should  he  have? 
What  characteristic  childish  "  faults "  should  he  be 
able  to  overcome?  How  much  responsibihty  can  safely 
be  placed  on  his  shoulders?  How  responsive  can  he  be 
expected  to  be  to  the  needs  of  others?  How  much  can 
he  comprehend  and  desire  of  the  "  ideal  society  "? 

These  things  we  should  know  just  as  we  know  how 
much  progress  he  can  be  expected  to  make  in  arithmetic 
and  writing  and  language.  And  when  we  have  succeeded 
in  stating  the  characteristic  achievements  of  a  six-year- 


\ 


238         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

old,  we  must  help  him  to  see  these  possible  achievements 
objectively,  as  things  which  he  is  expected  to  measure 
up  to,  and  he  must  know  whether  or  not  he  is  making 
progress  in  the  business  of  social  intercourse  just  as  he 
must  know  whether  or  not  he  is  making  progress  in 
school.  He  must  be  in  a  position  to  measure  himself 
by  reference  to  some  standard,  if  he  is  really  to  make 
intelhgent  progress  in  the  achievement  of  character. 
Doubtless  many  will  object  that  this  is  pharisaism,  and 
that  such  knowledge  of  one's  "  goodness  "  would  lead 
to  insufferable  priggishness.  That  depends  on  how  we 
define  "  goodness/'  If  we  define  it  in  the  individualistic 
sense  of  superiority,  we  shall  get  intolerance  and  pride. 
If  we  define  it  in  the  sense  of  being  equipped  to  take  one's 
full  part  in  the  world's  work,  and  of  actually  taking  that 
part,  not  thinking  about  it,  we  will  get  humihty  com- 
bined with  confidence.  If  we  define  our  standards  in 
terms  of  good  and  bad  as  quahties  to  be  achieved,  and 
if  the  performance  of  certain  deeds  is  accompanied  by 
approval  for  the  quality,  then  we  shall  have  the  self- 
conscious,  self-righteous  prigs  we  all  dishke.  But  if  we 
define  these  standards  in  terms  of  deeds  and  results, 
both  social  results  and  the  mastery  of  self,  we  shall  have 
an  objective  character,  that  knows  itself,  and  yet  is 
unconscious  of  its  own  "  virtue."  Its  worth  will  be 
measured  by  its  contribution  to  the  good  of  others,  not 
by  its  happiness  or  its  possession  of  abstract  qualities. 
This  will  require  a  revision  of  our  vocabulary  of  ethics. 
We  lack  words  with  which  to  describe  these  social 
achievements.  We  have  only  the  words  that  are  asso- 
ciated with  individualistic  ethics  and  a  "  faculty " 
psychology,  such  as  honesty,  generosity,  courtesy, 
patience.    These  words  measure  abstractions,  not  con- 


CHARACTER  239 

Crete  achievements,  though  they  may  help,  to  be  sure, 
in  the  conquering  of  special  faults  or  weaknesses.  In 
their  stead  we  need  such  terms  as  "  cooperation," 
"  health,"  "  work,"  "  playing  the  game,"  "  according 
to  rule,"  "  justice  "  (in  the  sense  of  an  objective  rela- 
tionship), "  friendship,"  "  peace,"  together  with  princi- 
ples of  conduct  in  terms  of  actual  deeds,  such  as  "  love 
one  another,"  "  play  fair,"  ''  lend  a  hand,"  "  think  of 
others  first,"  "  be  a  good  sport,"  "  in  everything  give 
thanks,"  rather  than  ''  be  kind,"  "  be  cheerful,"  "  be 
good,"  ^'  be  honest,"  and  the  Hke.  In  any  case,  the 
need  is  that  the  interest  and  the  ideal  be  centered  in  the 
deed  and  its  purpose  rather  than  in  the  quality  of 
character  the  deed  is  supposed  to  manifest.  Such  a 
practise  would  make  it  entirely  practicable  for  us  to 
discuss  our  deeds  as  freely  and  unconsciously  as  people 
used  to  discuss  their  "  experience  "  in  the  old-fashioned 
prayer  meeting.  We  would  confer  with  one  another  on 
the  interests  of  the  Kingdom,  each  reporting  his  share  of 
work  done,  whether  that  consisted  in  helping  a  blind 
old  man  across  the  street,  giving  a  dollar  to  the  Red 
Cross  or  taking  the  minutes  of  a  committee  meeting. 
Without  some  such  frank  and  open  discussion  of  our 
mutual  work  in  the  world,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  we  shall 
ever  bring  to  bear  upon  one  another  the  pressure  of 
opinion  and  interest  that  is  necessary  if  we  are  to  be  as 
successful  in  organizing  the  forces  of  Christian  de- 
mocracy as  we  are  in  organizing  business  and  poUtics. 
Something  must  be  done  to  give  currency  and  vigor  to 
the  Christian  ideal  in  practical  social  relations.  Why 
not  try  talking  about  it,  as  Jesus  did,  and  getting  others 
also  to  experiment  with  it,  as  he  did,  lifting  it  out  of  the 
limbo  of  the  undiscussable  and  the  fantastic  by  our  own 


240         CHILDHOOD  AND  CHARACTER 

demonstration  of  its  naturalness  and  its  success?  "Char- 
acter "  will  become  popular  when  it  ceases  to  be  the  mark 
of  the  Pharisee  and  is  recognized  as  the  prerogative  of 
all  who  seek,  each  in  his  own  way,  to  make 

"...  justice  roll  down  Uke  waters. 
And  righteousness  as  a  mighty  stream." 


APPENDIX  I 
Things  Children  Do  and  Sat 

In  cases  where  this  book  is  used  as  a  text,  teachers 
will  sometimes  find  it  of  help  in  the  interpretation  of 
childhood  to  read  with  the  class  some  of  the  famous 
poems  of  childhood.  Most  of  these  that  are  suggested 
are  found  in  The  Home  Book  of  Verse  for  Young  People.  ^ 

Rabindranath  Tagore,  The  HerOj^  Playthings,^  Voca- 
tion? 

R.  L.  Stevenson,  My  Shadow,  Young  Night  Thought, 
The  Land  of  Counterpane. 

Eugene  Field,  Seein^  Things. 

J.  W.  Riley,  The  Raggedy  Man,  A  Boy^s  Mother, 

H.  S.  Cornwell,  The  Sunset  City. 

Gabriel  Setoun,  The  World's  Music. 

Laurence  Alma-Tadema,  Playgrounds. 

WiUiam  Allingham,  The  Fairies. 

PART  I 

STORIES  BY  AN  EIGHT-YEAR-OLD   GIRL 
This  story  was  written  without  suggestion  or  help. 
The  spelling  and  punctuation  are  not  reproduced  except 
where  they  enhance  the  effect. 

ROSE  MALAND  STORIES 
30  Chapters 

THE  ADVENTURES  OF  ROSE  MALAND 
A  Lovely  Story  for  Little  Folks 

» B.  E.  Stevenson,  editor.    Published  by  Holt. 
'In  The  Cre«centjAfoon,|Macmillan. 

241 


242  APPENDIX  I 

Contents 

Rose's  Broken  Arm  and  Cut  Head 1 

Rose  at  Breakfast  and  Her  Birthday 7 

Rose's  Birthday  Presents 10 

Rose's  Meeting  Isabel 12 

Rose  Playing  with  Mary 14 

Rose's  Birthday  Party  and  the  Afternoon 16 

Isabel  Asking  to  be  Forgiven 18 

Conversation  between  Isabel  and  Rose 19 

Getting  Ready  for  the  Party 20 

CHAPTER  I 

ROSE  MALAND  STORIES 

Rose  Maland's  Bkoken  Arm  and  Cut  Forehead 

Rose  Maland  was  a  happy,  good  little  girl.  One  day  she  was  hav- 
ing a  race  with  Isabel  Clifford  and  Mary  Parline  and  Prudy  Conro 
at  school.  One,  two,  three,  go,  said  the  teacher,  and  off  they  went 
like  a  flash  of  light.  Isabel  knew  Rose  would  win.  She  was  de- 
termined to  win  and  get  the  prize.  So,  just  as  Rose  was  going  to 
give  a  dash,  Isabel  put  out  her  foot  to  trip  her.  Rose  fell  with  a 
scream.     She  lay  SENSELESS. 

The  teacher  bent  over  her  pale,  bleeding  forehead.  It  was  cut 
open.  Miss  Helen  picked  her  up  and  carried  her  in  school.  The 
girls  held  up  their  hands  in  horror  at  the  mean  trick.  Isabel,  you 
are  dismissed  from  school,  said  the  angry  teacher.  Isabel  sneaked 
in  silence.  The  girls  gave  the  cry  of  cheat.  Rose  lay  in  her  little 
white  bed  a  long  time.  The  doctor  worked  busily  over  the  broken 
arm  and  cut  head.  Rose's  teacher  came  to  see  her  and  gave  her 
lots  of  flowers.  It  was  her  birthday  and  the  first  day  she  got  up  and 
got  dressed.  The  nurse  had  to  hold  her  up  because  she  was  a  httle 
dizzy  from  being  in  bed  two  months.  And  still  she  had  her  arm  in  a 
sHng  and  her  head  was  still  bandaged  and  was  very  sore.  And 
when  she  was  all  dressed  and  ready  to  go  downstairs  it  was  a  happy 
little  girl  that  breakfast  and  I  will  tell  in  the  next  chapter. 

CHAPTER  II 
Rose  at  Breakfast  and  Her  Birthday 
Rose's  nurse  helped  her  get  into  her  chair.     Happy  Birthday, 
Rose!    said  her  father  and  mother.    Rose  tried  to  smile.    She  sat 


APPENDIX  I  243 

down;  and  oh,  what  a  lot  of  presents  for  her!  She  opened  one  box 
and  there  was  a  ring.  It  was  gold  with  an  emerald  in  the  middle 
with  two  pearis  on  each  side  and  two  diamonds  on  each  side  of  the 
pearls,  and  two  rubies  on  each  side  of  the  diamonds  and  between  the 
rubies  was  a  sapphire. 

She  put  it  on  her  finger.  Thank  you,  papa  dear  and  mamma  dear, 
she  said.  Next  she  opened  another  box,  and  there  were  four  silk 
handkerchiefs  embroidered  with  gold  and  pink  embroidery  and 
pearis  around  them.  Dear  me,  said  she,  how  pretty.  Thank  you. 
She  opened  another  big  box  and  there  was  a  lady  doll  just  like 
chisup  (?).  O  who-o-o-o  said  Rose.  Thank,  thank  you,  dear,  dear, 
dear  papa,  mamma.  She  opened  another  big  box  and  that  had  a 
doll  house  just  like  chisey's  (presumably  she  means  Chesley's,  this 
being  the  name  of  a  friend  of  an  older  sister).  And  she  opened 
another  box  and  there  was  a  Uttle  doll  carriage.  She  opened  an- 
other big  box  and  there  was  a  tricycle  like  Ernest's  (another 
neighbor). 

CHAPTER  III 

Rose's  Birthday  Presents 
Rose  soon  heard  a  bark  and  in  bounded  a  great  big  Saint  Bernard 
dog.  Rose  ran  and  put  both  httle  fat  arms  around  the  dog's  neck. 
He  Ucked  her  face  and  wagged  his  tail.  I'll  name  him  Hero,  he's 
such  a  good  doggy.  Yes,  and  he's  for  you,  dear,  said  her  father. 
Then  her  mother  took  four  Uttle  kitties  and  said,  These  too  are  for 
you,  dear.  Thank  you  mamma.  Thank  you,  papa.  And  she 
kissed  them  both.  And  off  she  went  to  play  in  the  garden,  the 
first  day  she  had  been  out. 

CHAPTER  nil 

Rose's  Meeting  Isabel 
Rose  met  Isabel  aroimd  the  second  turn  of  the  garden.  Isabel 
did  not  know  what  to  say.  But  just  as  Isabel  came,  Mary  came 
after  her.  She  rushed  to  Rose  and  whispered,  Isabel  got  a  whitpen 
from  her  father.  Rose  whispered.  Is  she  sorry  or  mad  at  me?  She 
said  she  was  mad  and  she  told  her  ma  and  pa  she  was  sorry,  said 
Mary.  Rose  said,  She  tells  Hes.  Doesn't  she?  Mary  said.  Rose 
gave  one  glance  at  Isabel  and  then  Mary  and  Rose  both  turned 
their  backs  on  Isabel.    Isabel  went  sulkily  away. 


244  APPENDIX  I 

CHAPTER  V 

Playing  with  Mart 
Rose  showed  Mary  her  birthday  presents  and  they  played  with 
the  doll-house.  Rose  told  Mary  that  her  mother  was  making  a 
beautiful  cake  with  some  white  frosting  and  little  pink  candies 
making  Rose's  name  on  the  cake.  It  was  an  angel  cake  and  it  had 
in  the  center  a  lot  of  almonds,  pink  white  yellow  green  violet 
brown  orange  red  blue  and  a  $  for  the  prize.  I'm  going  to  have 
a  lovely  party  tonight,  said  Rose,  and  I'm  going  to  invite  you  and 
Isabel  Prudy  and  Grace  and  Lilian,  Betty  Carolyn  Ruth  Anna 
and  EUzabeth,  Zaner,  Robert  and  Bod  and  Maxwell,  Ernest  Howard 
Edward,  Dunceit  and  Duncan,  the  twins,  Violet,  Diana,  Daner 
(mostly  names  or  attempts  at  names  of  neighbors).  22  children 
and  counting  you.  Rose,  there'll  be  23,  murmured  Mary.  Yes, 
said  Rose,  there'll  be  23  counting  me.  There's  going  to  be  a 
great  big  Christmas  tree  with  lots  of  things  on  it  tonight,  said  Rose. 
Good-by,  Mary. 

CHAPTER  6 
Rose's  Birthday  Party  and  in  the  Afternoon 
Rose  had  just  eaten  her  dinner  when  the  door  bell  rang  ding  ding 
ding.  Up  jumped  Rose  and  rushed  to  the  door.  She  had  thought 
it  would  be  Mary  come  to  play  with  her,  but  when  she  opened  the 
door  there  stood  Isabel  with  downcast  eyes.  I'm  awfully  sorry, 
Rose. 

CHAPTER  7 
Isabel  Asking  to  be  Forgiven 
Oh  Isabel,  I  have  forgiven  you  for  a  long  time.  Come  in,  please, 
come  in.  Yes  I  will.  May  I  see  your  birthday  presents?  Here 
is  my  present  for  you.  Thank  you,  dear  Isabel.  Rose  opened  the 
little  bundle  and  there  was  —  could  you  guess?  —  a  gold  watch  with 
emeralds  all  over  it.    Thank  you,  thank  you,  dear  Isabel. 

CHAPTER  8 
Conversation  between  Isabel  and  Rose 
After  Isabel  had  looked  at  Rose's  presents,  she  said,  I  guess  I'll 
have  to  go  home  and  get  dressed  for  the  party.    So  you  will,  and  I 
will  too.    Isabel  ran  home  with  a  hght  heart  and  a  smiling  face. 


APPENDIX  I  245 

CHAPTER  9 
The  Getting  Ready  for  the  Party 
Mrs.  Maland  was  very  busy  getting  ready  for  the  party.  She 
made  a  cake  and  bought  some  lovely  ice  cream.  She  made 
a  beautiful  salad  and  candies  and  cookies.  She  made  the 
Christmas  tree  very  beautiful  with  tinsel  and  other  things.  The 
room  looked  very  beautiful  when  it  was  ready.  She  had  new 
silk  curtains  with  gold  braid  on  them  hung  up  before  every  door  in 
the  house  and  Christmas  bells  were  tinkling  all  over  the  house. 

CHAPTER  10 
Rose  Gets  Ready  for  the  Party 
Rose  went  up  stairs  and  had  a  bath.  Her  mother  put  clean 
clothes  for  her,  a  lace  petticoat  with  green  ribbons  running  through 
it  and  light  green  stockings  and  green  shoes  spangled  with  emeralds, 
a  green  silk  dress  with  a  white  veil  over  it  and  gold  beads  spangle. 
There  was  a  high  room  with  blue  wall  paper  and  a  silver  moon  on  it 
and  little  gold  stars.  Rose  had  a  green  ribbon  with  gold  beads  on 
it  and  a  green  sash  with  green  emeralds  on  it.  Rose's  curls  were 
brushed.  Rose  wore  a  gold  bracelet  with  5  emeralds  in  it  and  a 
birthday  ring  and  the  watch  Isabel  had  given  her.  She  had  gold 
heels  on  her  shoes  and  a  gold  chain  with  emeralds  on  it.  She  had 
a  emerald  pendant  too. 

CHAPTER  10 

Rose  Greets  Her  Friends 

Go  down  and  greet  your  friends  to  our  party.    Rose  ran  down  to 

open  the  door.    She  had  invited  Mr.  J.  E.  and  all  the  children  were 

crowding  in.     Tut,  tut,  said  Rose,  you  must  not  crowd,  or  I  won't 

know  where  to  find  you. 

CHAPTER  11 
The  Party 
They  all  went  to  a  big  room  and  bobbed  apples  and  played  ever 
BO  many  games  and  had  a  peanut  himt  and  such  a  lovely  time.    They 
did  everything. 

CHAPTER  11 
Christmas  Night 
That  night  when  Rose  went  to  bed  she  thanked  her  mamma  very 
much.    She  then  went  to  the  fireplace  and  got  a  big  stocking  and 


246  APPENDIX  I 

hung  it  up.    Good  night,  mamma,  she  said.    Good  night,  papa. 
And  up  stairs  she  went. 

CHAPTER  12 
Christmas  Day  and  Christmas  Morning 

About  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  Rose  woke  up  and  listened. 
What  was  that  noise?  Could  it  be  Santa  Claus?  Yes,  it  was, 
she  said  to  herself,  and  she  tucked  herself  up  and  waited  to  the 
first  streak  of  Ught  came  in  the  window.  Up  she  jumped  out  of 
her  bed.  She  went  very  quickly  to  the  stairs,  down  one  step,  she 
peered  into  the  dining  room.  Her  stocking  was  chuck  full  of  toys. 
She  ran  upstairs  again  and  got  dressed  very  quickly.  Then  up  got 
Rose's  mother  and  father  and  they  were  dressed  quickly  too,  and  down 
they  went  to  the  dining  room.  Rose  dashed  to  the  fireplace.  She 
called  her  brother  Kenneth  downstairs.  He  heard  her  and  he  got 
dressed  very  quickly.  Downstairs  he  went.  They  both  sat  down  to 
open  their  stockings.  Dear  me,  said  Rose,  as  she  pulled  out  a  doll, 
a  ball,  a  chain  a  ring  a  doll's  chair  and  lots  of  other  things.  As  for 
her  brother,  he  and  she  were  almost  buried  with  their  toys.  When 
they  had  had  a  good  look  at  the  Christmas  tree  and  had  had  their 
breakfast  they  played  with  their  toys.  Mary  came  over  with  her 
doll  and  Rose  and  Mary  played  dolls.  Mary  went  home  and  pretty 
soon  company  came  to  dinner.  Before  dinner  they  had  the  Christ- 
mas presents. 

CHAPTER  12 
The  Dinner 

For  dinner  they  had  turkey  cranberry  jelly,  and  pickles  and 
squash  and  mashed  potatoes  and  rasberry  vinegar,  and  all  kinds  of 
nuts  and  raisens  and  lots  and  lots  of  Cristmas  candy  and  lots  of 
other  kinds  of  candy.  They  had  a  great  big  Redfrosted  cake  and 
snow  pudding  and  ice  cream  and  pumkin  pie. 

CHAPTER  13 
Hallowe'en  Night 
It  was  Hallowe'en  night.  Oh  mamma,  said  Rose,  get  my  skull 
mask  and  my  grey  cloak.  Her  mother  got  her  things  on.  But  just 
as  she  put  in  the  last  pin,  the  door  bell  rang.  She  flew  downstairs 
and  opened  the  door.  There  stood  a  ghost.  Rose,  are  you  ready 
to  come  out  with  me?    Yes,  said  Rose,  I  got  my  flash  Ught.    Out- 


APPENDIX  I  247 

doors  they  scampered.  Rose  put  her  flash  light  into  a  room  where  a 
mother  was  putting  her  baby  to  bed.  The  lady  screamed  at  the 
sight  of  the  terrible  face  and  hght.  But  it  only  made  the  girls  laugh 
and  the  baby  squram.    Rose  and  Mary  go  to  a  Hallowe'en  party. 

CHAPTER  14 

Valentine's  Day 
I  got  lots  and  lots  of  beautiful  valentines,  Mary,  said  Rose,  pulling 
them  out  of  her  rosewood  desk  with  the  gold  pen.  I'm  invited  to  a 
valentine  party,  said  Rose,  shaking  her  golden  curls.  But  see  all  the 
pretty  valentines.  I'm  going  to  give  30  of  them,  said  Rose.  I'm 
invited  to  the  same  party. 

CHAPTER  15 
They  Go  to  the  Valentine  Party 
Rose  and  Mary  started  out  to  the  party.    Oh,  but  did  they  not 
have  a  lot  of  good  times  at  the  party.     I  had  a  lovely  time  at  the 
party,  Mrs.  Clifford. 

CHAPTER  16 
Thanksgiving  Day 
Thanksgiving  Day  came  at  last.  Rose  had  on  her  white  silk 
embroidered  dress  and  a  white  silk  ribbon  some  white  silk  stockings 
some  white  silk  shoes.  Pretty  soon  they  all  sat  down  to  dinner. 
There  were  nuts  raisens  cranberry  jelly  pickles  and  the  same  kind 
of  things  they  had  to  eat  on  Christmas.  What  a  lovely  dinner 
there  was  and  how  many  Thanksgiving  cards  there  were  for  Rose, 
Kenneth  and  Mary.  It's  a  day,  said  Rose  to  her  mother.  Yes,  dear, 
it  was,  said  Mrs.  Maland. 

CHAPTER  17 
Momrele  (Memorial)  Day  Rose  Sees  the  Soldiers  March 
Mamma,  I  want  a  flag,  a  flag,  said  Rose,  dancing  about  her 
mother.  Here's  one.  Rose,  said  Mrs.  Maland.  Rose  took  the 
flag  and  went  to  see  the  solgers.  Trum  trum  trum  turmtetum 
teum  trum.  That's  what  the  drums  are  saying,  said  Rose.  What  a 
lot  of  solgers  there  are.  Let's  follow  them  to  the  Mamorele  (Me- 
morial) Hall.    They  got  a  lot  of  salted  peanuts  and  a  lot  of  pink 


248  APPENDIX  I 

white  corn  on  the  way  home  they  went  to  the  park  and  saw  the 
monkeys  and  had  a  ride  on  the  merry-go-round.  Next  they  had  a 
real  ride  on  some  real  ponies.    In  the  afternoon  they  had  a  long  ride. 

CHAPTER  18 
A  School  Day 
Ding  ding  ding  went  the  school  gong.  Get  in  line,  said  Miss 
Ellen.  Left  left  left  right  left  ready  march.  When  the  children 
were  all  in  their  seats  Miss  Ellen  read  the  sarm.  Then  they  had 
the  Lord's  prayer.  Then  the  morning  song.  In  arithmetic  Rose 
got  100  and  in  spelling  she  got  100,  and  in  all  her  work  she  got  100. 
At  recess  the  teacher  bathed  Rose's  head  and  put  the  bandage  on  to 
keep  it  from  getting  hot.    She  did  not  use  her  arm  much  at  all. 

CHAPTER  19 
Summer  Days  for  Happy  Rose 
I'm  going  to  the  beach  next  week,  said  Rose,  peeking  out  of  the 
hammock.  Are  you  going  to  any  beach,  Mary?  said  Rose.  I 
don't  know,  Rose.  I  have  been  to  England  but  on  the  way  I  was 
seasick,  said  Rose.  Let's  play  with  our  lady  dolls.  Rose.  Yes,  we 
will  play  under  that  tree.  So  they  played  for  such  a  long  time  that 
it  was  5  o'clock  when  they  stopped.  Come  in  and  have  your  supper 
now,  dear,  called  Kenneth  from  the  door.  Mamma  said  you  could 
go  out  after  supper  and  stay  out  till  8  o'clock. 

CHAPTER  20 
The  Terrible  Thunder  Storm 
Next  day  it  rained  so  hard  that  Rose  could  not  go  out.  In  the 
afternoon  it  began  to  thunder.  There  -^as  an  awful  crash  that 
made  Rose  shiver  and  shake.  It  grew  very  black  and  the  lightning 
was  very  bad.  Rose  saw  two  men  get  struck  and  3  trees  and 
one  horse. 

CHAPTER  20 

The  Hurricane 
Next  morning  there*  was  a  terrebuU  wind.     It  was  blowing  up 
houses  and  tearing  trees  up  by  the  roots.    Rose  was  in  Isabel's 
house  when  the  house  went  flying  way,  way  up  in  the  air.     Rose 
saw  great  waves  upon  the  ocean.     It  was  a  real  hurricane. 


APPENDIX!!  249 

CHAPTER  21 
Rose  at  the  Seaside 
Goodby,  Isabel  and  Mary.  I'm  going  to  the  beach  now.  When 
she  got  to  the  beach  it  was  very  warm.  I  want  something  to  eat, 
Mamma  dear,  said  Rose.  You  shall  have  it,  dear.  Can  we  go  in 
bathing  Ma?  Yes,  down  the  little  road.  They  ran  into  the  water. 
They  splashed  in  it.  Rose  began  to  swim  to  the  raft  that  was 
rocking  on  the  blue  waves.  When  she  got  to  the  raft  she  dived 
off  and  swam  under  water.  When  she  came  up  she  floated  on  the 
water. 

CHAPTER  22 
Rose  Going  Down  in  the  Ocean  with  the  Diver  and  sees 
Great  and  Wonderful.  Things 
Rose  was  going  down  in  the  ocean  with  a  diver.  They  take  their 
lights  and  down  they  dive  for  a  long  distance.  Rose  put  her  hand 
out  and  felt  the  sand.  She  looked  around  and  saw  some  coral  and 
pearls.  She  took  a  lot  of  sea  gems  and  went  along  with  the  diver. 
Soon  she  saw  a  huge  shark.  She  clung  to  the  diver.  Then  she  saw 
a  gigantic  cuttle  fish,  its  goggle  eyes  staring  everywhere.  Then  she 
saw  a  whale.  She  saw  so  many  wonderful  things  I  could  not  tell 
you  all  of  them.  Pretty  soon  thej'^  went  up  out  of  the  water  and 
Rose's  clothes  were  not  wet. 

CHAPTER  23 

Rose  Comes  Home  from  the  Beach 
Today  I'm  going  home,  said  Rose.    On  the  train  Rose's  mother 
bought  her  a  bannaner.    When  she  got  to  the  place  to  get  out  there 
were  Mary  and  Isabel  waiting  with  their  fathers.    We  were  waiting 
for  you,  Rose.    Rose  was  so  happ}'  she  could  not  speak. 

CHAPTER  24 
Spring  Time  Hunting  for  Flowers 
Mamma,  take  us  to  walk.  We  must  get  our  flowers  for  our  May 
baskets.  The  children  came  home  loaded  with  violets,  blueits, 
ennemones,  star  flowers  and  ferns.  These  will  be  beautiful  for  our 
May  baskets.  Rose  arranged  her  flowers  in  a  bowl  so  they  would 
not  fade. 


250  APPENDIX  I 

CHAPTER  25 
Making  May  Baskets 
My  May  baskets  are  all  done.    Are  they  not  pretty?   said  Rose. 
Yes,  said  Mary  and  Isabel  together.    Rose  put  her  May  baskets  on 
the  table. 

CHAPTER  26 
May  Day  and  May  Night 
Rose  arranged  her  flowers  in  the  May  baskets  and  put  lots  and 
lots  of  candy  in  them.    Look,  look,  how  pretty  they  do  look,  said 
Rose,  as  she  put  them  in  a  big  basket.    She  rang  all  the  door  bells. 
She  got  30  May  baskets. 

CHAPTER  27 
Winter  and  Rose  Goes  Skating 
Rose  fastened  on  her  skates  and  flew  around  on  the  ice.     She  slid 
on  the  ice  in  her  sled.    What  a  lovely  time  she  had  skating  and 
coasting. 

CHAPTER  28 
Easter 
I  got  30  Easter  eggs  and  lots  of  Bunnys  and  chickens,  said  Rose 
and  I  got  a  hat.     How  many  eggs  have  you  eaten?    I  have  eaten 
10  easter  eggs,  said  Rose.     I'm  going  over  to  Mary's  house  and 
show  her  my  Easter  presents. 

CHAPTER  29 
The  Gypsees  Steal  Rose  and  Mary 
Rose  and  Mary  were  walking  along  on  a  Uttle  lonesome  road 
when  something  got  in  their  feet.  Mary  looked  around  and  at  once 
saw  that  they  were  in  a  gypsees  camp.  A  man  jumped  out  of  the 
bushes  and  picked  up  both  children  and  ran  at  a  great  pace.  Rose 
screamed  and  Mary  yelled.  At  last  the  man  stopped  before  a  dirty 
camp.  He  put  Rose  and  Mary  in  the  camp.  An  old  gypsee  wanted 
to  tell  Rose's  fortune  but  Rose  would  not  let  her.  Just  then  Rose's 
father  came  in.  [He  picked  up  Rose  and  Mary  and  took  them 
home. 


APPENDIX  I  251 

CHAPTER  30 

Sunday 

It  was  Sunday  and  the  children  had  to  go  to  church.    After 

church  the  children  sat  in  chairs  thinking  about  the  years  that  had 

come  and  gone  while  Rose  was  melting  away  from  the  ears  of  men. 

The  End 

This  story,  exhibiting  so  clearly  the  idealizing  power 
of  a  child,  as  well  as  her  feeling  for  what  she  thought  was 
the  proper  substance  and  form  of  a  story,  was  only  one 
of  a  series.  The  Second  Book  is  about  many  interesting 
and  mysterious  experiences,  such  as  "  The  Secret 
Drawer,"  ''  The  Little  Door  in  the  Attic,''  "  The  Buried 
Place,"  "  Rose  Finds  a  Mystery,"  "  The  Flood,"  "  Rose 
Gets  Lost."  Some  of  the  ideas  are  from  a  story  by 
Kenneth  Graham,  for  which  due  acknowledgment  is 
made  by  the  young  author!  The  Third  Book  is  about 
Rose  at  the  Beach,  and  was  written  a  year  or  so  after  the 
first  story.  The  child  had  been  to  the  beach  several 
times,  and  had  had  one  or  two  boat  trips,  but  the  Baha- 
mas and  Florida  are  fiction,  so  far  as  the  author's  own 
experience  is  concerned.    So  is  the  brother. 


ROSE  MARLAND  AT  THE  BEACH 

And  the  End  Tells  where  she  Comes  Home  the 
Day  before  Christmas 

THIRD  BOOK 
Contents 

Rose  Goes  to  the  Beach 1 

Brother  to  the  Rescue 3 

Florida 4 


252  APPENDIX  I 

Rose  Marland  Goes  to  the  Beach 
Rose  was  so  excited  over  going  to  the  beach  that  she  did  not  notice 
where  she  was  going  and  sat  down  in  a  bowl  of  water.  Old  Mammy 
Blue  got  her  up  instantly  and  changed  her  clothes.  Rose  stayed 
home  most  all  the  time  in  winter,  and  she  was  going  to  Florida 
this  winter.  This  was  the  morning  to  start.  Tickets  had  been 
gotten,  trunks  packed  and  nothing  forgotten.  Rose  thought  her 
brother  a  nice  boy  to  pull  off  her  ribbon  the  very  minute  they  were 
to  start.  Well,  all  the  Marlands  were  at  last  ready  to  go,  and  they 
went  aboard  the  big  steamer.  Mother  had  a  Httle  stateroom  all  to 
herself,  and  Rose  and  her  brother  had  a  Httle  stateroom  all  by  them- 
selves, so  they  were  all  right.  Come  on  let's  go  out  on  deck  and  see 
what  it's  Uke,  Rose,  whispered  her  brother.  All  right.  Rose  opened 
the  door  to  their  stateroom  and  they  went  out  on  the  deck.  It  was 
a  beautiful  day,  every  minute  getting  hotter.  We  are  going  to  have 
a  terrible  storm  at  sea,  shouted  the  captain.  Rose  and  her  brother 
started  for  the  cabin,  but  it  was  too  late. 

Brother  to  the  Rescue 
The  boat  that  moment  pitched  forward  and  Rose  was  swung 
head  first  over  the  bow  of  the  boat.  Evrybody  saw  her.  She  disap- 
peared for  a  moment  under  the  waves,  but  a  big  wave  raised  her 
way  up.  Her  brother  who  had  been  in  a  corner  holding  fast  to  the 
rail  came  forward  in  a  bathing  suit,  and  before  any  one  could  stop 
him  he  dived  off  the  railing  and  vanished.  Evryone  was  breathless 
until  Kenneth  appeared  holding  Rose  in  his  arms.  The  stewards 
lowered  some  ropes  and  Kenneth  cUmbed  up.  For  brave,  shouted 
the  people.  Is  he  all  right?  whispered  Rose  as  she  came  too.  Get 
the  boat  surgeon  and  we'll  see  if  both  of  you  are  all  right.  Send  a 
sailor.  The  boat  surgeon  was  found  in  the  dining  salloone  under  a 
wreckage  of  tables,  chairs,  etc.  He  was  soon  brought  out.  When 
the  captain  appeared,  Thank  God,  he  said,  that  they  came  safely 
threw,  and,  said  he,  addressing  the  people,  we  are  now  at  the  wharf 
at  Florida.  Three  cheers,  said  the  sailors,  once  more  remembering 
Kenneth.     Three  cheers,  for  he's  a  born  sailor. 

Florida 
At  last  the  Marlands  were  safely  on  shore,  and  the  ship,  I'm  sorry 
to  say,  the  ship's  chain  busted,  as  the  sailors  called  it,  and  the  ship 


APPENDIX  I  253 

got  away,  and  you  could  jest  see  the  top  of  ther  ship,  said  the  old 
captain.  The  stormy  day  ended,  Rose  and  Kenneth  were  snug  in 
bed.    Next  day  dawned  and  Rose  was  out  in  the  garden.  .  .  . 

The  story  proceeds  in  similar  vein  for  several 
chapters. 

PART  II 
INCIDENTS  FROM  CHILD  LIFE 

Children  do  and  say  many  revealing  things.  The 
literature  of  child  study  contains  much  concrete  ma- 
terial that  might  well  be  accumulated  and  classified  for 
fresh  study.  Illustrations  of  these  valuable  data,  to- 
gether with  some  unpubhshed  material  that  has  come  to 
the  writer's  hand,  are  printed  below.  These  incidents 
are  numbered  for  convenience  of  reference,  and  are 
roughly  classified  by  age.  Teachers  will  do  well  to 
familiarize  themselves  with  the  illustrations  and  to  use 
them  as  occasion  offers.  Some  of  the  stories  are  defec- 
tive for  accurate  study  on  account  of  the  absence  of 
detail  concerning  the  circumstances  or  situations.  These 
can  be  used,  however,  to  give  insight  into  the  possibiU- 
ties  of  behavior,  and  are  therefore  included. 

In  reading  the  incidents  attention  should  be  given  to 
what  the  child  actually  says  or  does,  and  to  the  situa- 
tion, so  far  as  it  is  given,  in  which  he  says  and  does  it. 
His  age  and  sex  should  be  carefully  noted,  together  with 
any  comments  that  may  be  made  concerning  his  family 
or  temperament.  Care  should  be  taken  not  to  generalize 
too  hastily  from  such  fragmentary  data  as  are  given. 
We  are  just  looking  at  children,  individual  children. 
The  reader  should,  however,  try  to  state  for  himself  any 
general  principle  or  law  he  already  knows  which  is 


254  APPENDIX  I 

illustrated  or  confirmed  by  each  incident,  or  some  preju- 
dice concerning  children  that  the  incident  throws  doubt 
upon.  What  does  Case  4  suggest  concerning  children's 
pranks  and  their  treatment?  What  idea  of  God  will 
be  natural  to  children  of  four  if  they  spontaneously  be- 
have as  described  in  Case  12?  What  capacity  for  self- 
judgment  or  at  least  for  making  a  discriminating  com- 
parison between  conduct  and  a  standard  is  found  in  a 
child  under  three  in  Case  2?  Can  children  under  two 
exercise  self-control?  In  Case  1,  one  such  child  seems  to 
have  been  able  to  do  so.     And  so  on. 

1.  Boy.  Sixteen  months.  Had  been  warned  by  mother  not  to 
touch  table  legs  thus,  when  he  attempted  to  do  so:  "No,  no. 
Mustn't  touch,"  with  cautioning  gesture.  Had  not  been  punished 
for  doing  so.  Was  observed  when  alone  to  start  for  the  table  legs 
on  hands  and  knees,  and  then  suddenly  to  stop,  sit  up,  look  at  the 
legs  in  an  eager  yet  puzzled  way,  develop  an  expression  as  though 
about  to  cry,  making  incipient  motions  toward  the  table,  yet  not 
moving  toward  it.  Finally,  brightened  up  and  went  off  in  another 
direction. 

2.  Girl.  Two  years,  ten  months.  A  little  girl  was  being  taught 
by  her  mother  to  "  say  her  prayers."  Following  the  mother's 
dictation,  she  repeated:  "  Thank  you  (God)  for  making  me  a  good 
girl  today."  Then  she  looked  up  and  said:  "  But  I  cried."  (She 
had  been  an  exceptionally  good  girl  with  the  exception  of  the  one 
cry  because  her  supper  wasn't  ready  as  soon  as  she  wanted  it.) 

3.  Boy.  Three  years.  On  a  motor  trip  a  small  campfire  was 
made.  He  did  not  like  it  at  all.  "  The  fire  isn't  in  the  grate,  and  it 
might  run  away,"  he  said. 

4.  Boy.  Three  years.  "  The  minister's  Uttle  three-year-old 
had  a  beautiful  head  of  golden  curls,  and  thick  bangs  that  hung  over 
his  waxy  forehead  down  to  his  eyebrows.  This  lovely  head  was  real 
gold  to  the  proud  mother,  and  quite  as  much  to  the  father,  whose 
bald  head  set  a  high  estimate  on  a  fine  crop  of  hair. 


APPENDIX  I  255 

"  One  day  the  child  was  left  in  a  darkened  room  to  take  his  mid- 
day nap,  as  usual.  In  due  time  his  mother  moved  quietly  into  the 
boy's  room,  supposing  him  to  be  asleep.  But  the  little  fellow,  seeing 
her  shadowy  form,  called  out,  *  Here,  Mamma!  Here's  some  hair!  * 
at  the  same  time  holding  up  a  handful  of  yellow  locks. 

"  The  shocked  mother  instantly  saw  the  situation.  A  pair  of 
scissors  had  been  left  on  the  bed,  and  the  boy  had  diligently  applied 
them  quite  close  to  the  cranium. 

"  The  mother  held  no  fireside  court,  but  called  the  act  by  the  name 
that  seemed,  on  hasty  judgment,  to  fit  it  best,  and  deUvered  her 
opinion  of  the  moral  aspect  of  the  deed  with  an  immediate  paddling. 

"  Her  custom  seems  to  have  been  the  conmioner  one  of  condemn- 
ing and  punishing  first  and  then  interrogating  afterwards.  The 
criminal's  trial  follows  his  punishment  in  such  case.  So  the  mother 
took  the  boy  on  her  knee  and  said,  *  Little  son,  what  made  you  do 
that? ' 

"  The  beautiful  lips  trembled,  the  great,  glorious  eyes  overflowed 
with  tears,  and  with  convulsive  sobs  the  child  answered,  '  Mamma, 
I  was  trying  to  look  Uke  papa.'  "  * 

5.  Boy.  Three  years.  He  is  such  a  comrade  we  almost  forget 
he  is  still  an  infant,  only  three  years  old.  He  likes  best  to  work 
with  his  father  with  real  tools,  in  the  shop.  He  constantly  devises 
new  games,  and  his  imagination  enables  him  to  impersonate  any 
animal.  His  morning  stunt  now  is  to  play  he  is  the  eagle  and  swoop 
down  and  carry  off  my  baby  (my  hair  brush)  from  under  the  hay 
cock,  and  fly  with  it  to  his  nest  in  the  mountain  (his  daddy's  bed). 
Then  I  run  screaming  up  the  mountain  and  rescue  it.  He  runs  across 
both  our  beds,  and  around  the  window  seat,  so  he  has  quite  a  flight. 
This  game  is  repeated  from  the  time  he  awakens  until  M.  is  ready 
to  dress  him. 

6.  Boy.  Three  and  a  half  years.  Here  is  something  from  the 
boy;  it  represents  a  tough  nut  to  crack,  I  think.  One  evening,  at 
dinner  he  was  discarding  from  his  plate  several  crusts  of  bread  which 
were  perfectly  good;  M.  thinking  to  persuade  him  to  eat  them, 
said,  "There  are  lots  of  hungry  little  boys  in  the  world  who 
would  be  glad  to  get  those  nice  crusts."  I  added,  to  impress  him 
more  strongly,  that  some  little  boys  were  so  hungry  they  would  be 

1  Patterson  Du  Bois,  Fireside  Child  Study.     Copyright,  1903,  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co. 


256  APPENDIX  I 

glad  to  pick  the  crusts  out  of  the  ash  box  and  eat  them.  He  seemed 
to  be  greatly  interested  and  his  eyes  were  wide  open  in  astonish- 
ment. After  a  moment,  in  a  haK  tearful,  half  impatient  voice,  he 
said:  "  O  dear!  why  doesn't  our  heavenly  Father  give  those  little 
boys  something  to  eat?  "  We  of  course  were  rather  startled  at  his 
remark,  and  noticing  our  faces  he  added :  "  But  he  gives  me  my  food 
doesn't  he?  " 

7.  Boy.  Three  and  a  half  years.  Seeing  his  mother  dress  to 
go  out  my  nephew,  who  is  three  and  a  half  years  old,  asked  her 
where  she  was  going.  She  told  him  she  was  going  to  see  Miss  W. 
**  Why?  "  he  asked.  "  Because  she  is  ill,"  his  mother  answered. 
After  a  moment  he  said,  "  Don't  you  want  to  take  something  to 
her,  mother?  "  Of  course  she  did.  So  he  went  to  his  play  room, 
brought  back  a  cherished  toy  and  wrapped  it  up  for  the  invalid. 

8.  Girl.  Three  and  a  half  years.  The  parents  of  a  little  girl  of 
three  and  a  half  years  had  forbidden  her  to  have  any  chocolate 
candy  for  a  limited  time  on  account  of  an  unhealthy  condition  of 
her  blood.  She  was  out  visiting  friends  and  in  the  absence  of  her 
parents  was  offered  some  of  the  forbidden  sweets.  She  looked  long- 
ingly at  the  tempting  dish,  but  rephed,  "  I  mayn't  eat  candy." 
On  returning  home  she  told  her  mother  of  the  incident  with  ap- 
parent self-satisfaction,  adding,  "  Some  children  would  have  just 
taken  it  anyhow."  I  might  have  added  that  the  temptation  was 
augmented  by  the  little  son  of  the  hostess  who  was  present  and  said 
to  the  Uttle  girl  when  she  refused  the  candy,  "  But  your  daddy  isn't 
here  now." 

9.  Boy.  Three  and  a  half  years.  It  took  place  last  Christmas 
Day.  The  child,  a  boy  three  and  a  half  years  old,  had  been  longing 
for  the  possession  of  a  particular  kind  of  toy,  which  he  got  on  that 
day.  His  happiness  seemed  to  increase  in  intensity  as  the  hours 
went  by.  He  pleaded  to  be  allowed  to  hold  it  all  the  time,  also 
during  meals;  for  the  rest  of  the  day  he  neglected  the  company"  of 
friends  who  were  most  dear  to  him,  in  order  to  play  with,  and  enjoy 
his  new  toy.  He  wanted  to  take  the  toy  to  bed  when  time  came  to 
retire ;  after  almost  a  struggle,  he  was  granted  the  permission  to  do 
so.  He  put  the  toy  inside  the  night-dress,  so  as  to  be  sure  to  have 
it,  holding  his  hand  over  it  on  the  outside  of  the  garment.    When  his 


APPENDIX  I  257 

mother  knelt  beside  his  cot  to  hear  him  say  his  prayers,  he  turned 
to  her  and  asked  that  she  hold  the  toy  while  he  thanked  Jesus  for  it. 

10.  Girl.  Four  years.  "  One  day  I  noticed  that  a  Uttle  girl 
who  was  very  self-willed  was  sewing  the  card  given  her  in  an  irregular 
and  disorderly  manner.  '  Oh,  Ehzabeth! '  I  exclaimed,  '  you  are 
not  doing  that  right!  Come  here  and  let  me  show  you  how  to  do  it.* 
*  No,'  answered  the  child  in  a  seK-satisfied  tone,  '  Elizabeth  likes  it 
this  way.'  I  saw  that  I  must  appeal  to  the  public  opinion  of  the 
table  of  babies  about  her  in  order  that  I  might  lead  her  to  voluntarily 
undo  the  work.  So  I  asked  her  to  show  the  card  to  the  other  chil- 
dren. As  is  usually  the  case,  pubhc  opinion  decided  in  the  right,  and 
the  children  said  they  did  not  like  it.  *  But  Elizabeth  likes  it,' 
persisted  the  child.  '  It's  Elizabeth's  card,  and  she  is  going  to  make 
it  this  way.'  I  saw  that  the  httle  community  of  her  own  equals 
had  not  sufficient  weight  to  influence  her,  and  from  her  manner  I 
knew  that  it  was  mere  caprice  on  her  part.  So  I  said,  *  Come  with 
me  and  we  will  go  over  to  brother's  table  and  see  what  they  think  of 
it.'  We  held  the  card  up  before  the  next  older  children,  and  I  said 
pleasantly,  '  Children,  what  do  you  think  of  this  card? '  *  It  is 
wrong,'  they  exclaimed,  '  The  soldiers  '  (meaning  the  vertical  lines) 
'  are  all  tumbling  down.'  By  this  time  the  pubUc  opinion  of  our 
little  community  had  begun  to  have  an  effect,  and  the  child  turned 
to  me  and  exclaimed,  '  It  is  a  bad,  nasty  card,  and  EUzabeth  will 
throw  it  into  the  fire,'  starting  at  the  same  time  toward  the  open 
grate  in  the  room.  '  Oh,  no,  my  dear,'  I  exclaimed,  *  let's  go  over 
to  the  table  where  the  big  children  are.  Perhaps  they  can  tell  us 
something  to  do  with  it.'  With  that  we  walked  across  the  room  to 
the  table  at  which  my  older  and  better-trained  children  were  at 
work.  After  praising  the  forms  which  they  were  making  with  their 
sticks,  in  order  to  arouse  within  the  child's  mind  a  still  higher  ap- 
preciation of  their  judgment,  I  said,  '  Our  little  EUzabeth  has  a  card 
she  wants  to  show  you  and  see  if  any  of  you  can  tell  her  what  to  do 
with  it.'  The  card  was  held  up,  somewhat  unwiUingly  this  time, 
and  the  children  without  hesitation  said,  '  She  must  take  out  the 
crooked  stitches  and  put  them  in  straight.'  The  oldest  boy  at  the 
table  added,  '  Come  here,  Elizabeth;  I'll  show  you  how  to  do  it.' 
With  that  her  little  chair  was  drawn  up  beside  his  larger  one,  and  for 
ten  minutes  the  two  patiently  worked  over  the  tangled  card.  At 
the  end  of  that  time  Elizabeth  brought  the  card  to  me  and  in  tri- 


258  APPENDIX  I 

umphant  delight  exclaimed,  *  Now  everybody  will  say  that  Eliza- 
beth's card  is  pretty!'  I  had  no  further  trouble  with  the  child  in 
this  particular  direction  of  taking  out  work  when  wrongly  done. 
This,  of  course,  would  not  be  the  right  method  of  dealing  with  a  very 
sensitive  child.  The  story  shows  the  need  of  increasing  the  standard 
of  judgment  by  which  the  child  is  to  be  measured,  in  proportion  to 
the  child's  estimate  of  the  work  and  value  of  his  own  opinions."  ^ 

11.  Boy.  Age  ?  Mrs.  McD.  was  a  nurse  and  spent  most 
of  her  time  away  from  home.  Her  husband  was  a  "  no- good  " 
and  had  left  her.  The  four-year-old  Uttle  boy,  Kendall,  one  day 
ran  in  front  of  the  street-car,  and  lost  one  arm  up  to  the  elbow  and 
from  the  hand  of  the  other  were  torn  all  but  one  finger;  he  would  be 
a  great  charge. 

But  her  step-son,  Gordon,  offered  to  take  care  of  Kendall  in  every 
way  he  could  that  his  step-mother  might  not  have  to  discontinue  her 
nursing.  And  day  after  day  he  played  with  the  maimed,  peevish 
child,  got  books  from  the  library  and  read  to  him  and  stayed  home 
from  play  with  other  boys  whenever  he  was  needed. 

12.  Girl.  Four  and  a  half  years.  Margaret,  a  little  girl  four  and 
a  half  years  old,  was  sitting  in  a  rocking  chair  in  front  of  a  window, 
persevering  with  some  crocheting  which  she  wanted  to  do  because  I 
was  doing  it.  Her  mother  and  I  were  busy  about  our  work  in  the 
same  room.  After  an  hour  or  two  of  silence  she  suddenly  said,  "  My 
back  is  hot,"  for  the  sun  had  come  around  to  that  window. 

"  What  will  you  move,  Margaret,  the  chair  or  the  sun?  "  her 
mother  asked. 

"  The  chair,"  was  the  decided  answer.  Thereupon  my  curiosity 
was  aroused  and  I  asked,  "  Why  didn't  you  have  the  sun  move, 
Margaret  dear?  " 

She  answered,  "  But  God  does  that."  Without  one  word  she 
bowed  her  head  and  prayed,  "  Please,  dear  God,  will  you  move 
the  sun  for  me?  " 

13.  Boy.  Four  years,  eight  months.  I  will  note  down  the  items 
of  the  boy's  adjustment  between  the  real  and  the  imaginative. 
He  seems  to  be  very  clear  about  the  difference.  This  morning  he 
asked  me  if  God  was  real,  or  a  fairy.     I  had  so  often  told  him  that 

1  From  A  Study  of  Child  Nature,  copyright,  1890,  by  Elizabeth  Harrison.  Pub- 
lished by  the  National  Kindergarten  and  Elementary  College. 


APPENDIX  I  259 

the  gods  in  the  stories  of  the  myths  were  fairies,  that  he  wanted  to 
be  sure  about  the  heavenly  Father.  He  often  asks,  regarding  habits 
of  animals,  whether  it  is  real,  or  a  story.  M.  is  puzzled  by  his  relat- 
ing things  to  her  which  he  knows  are  not  true,  and  so  does  she. 
He  says  then  that  they  are  stories.  To  her  they  are  lies.  He  cleariy 
understands  the  difference  between  fact  and  fancy,  but  has  not 
always  grasped  when  he  should  tell  only  the  facts.  I  can  see  daily 
signs  of  a  better  understanding.  He  often  adds,  "  That  is  not  really 
true,  it  is  only  a  story,  Mother,"  with  a  questioning  look.  His 
present  interest  is  divided  between  a  most  fanciful  Santa  Claus 
book,  and  The  Tree  Dwellers,  by  Dopp,  of  Chicago.  He  likes  to 
take  trips  on  maps,  and  soon  will  understand  this  better. 

14.  Boy.  Four  and  a  half  years.  His  father  brought  him  a  small 
electric  cell,  with  buzzer  and  push-button.  He  disconnects  every- 
thing, and  reconnects  them,  with  imending  joy.  He  is  learning 
many  simple  truths  about  electricity.  The  spark  delights  him. 
All  physical  phenomena  interest  him.  He  weaves  these  facts  into 
new  games.  At  first  he  had  a  bell  instead  of  a  buzzer.  He  made 
this  into  a  fire  alarm,  gave  a  toy  auto  to  his  two  playmates,  and 
all  rushed  to  put  out  the  fire.  This  game  lasted  a  long  time,  with 
exciting  variations. 

Last  Christmas  the  lad  invented  a  play  with  the  star  of  Bethle- 
hem. We  were  seated  in  the  Uving  room  with  some  guests.  He 
had  me  light  a  candle  upon  the  table,  and  turn  out  the  other  Ught. 
This  was  the  sun.  He  brought  in  an  apple  for  the  moon.  Then  he 
blew  out  the  Ught  and  announced  that  he  was  God,  and  would  bring 
in  the  star.  He  carried  in  a  contraption,  made  of  sticks  of  wood 
nailed  across  each  other,  and  as  tall  as  he.  After  marching  around 
the  table,  the  star  was  taken  to  the  reception  hall,  the  candle  lighted, 
and  the  game  was  over.  He  explained  that  stars  were  really  bigger 
than  the  sun;  his  mother  had  said  so.  You  can  imagine  our  feelings 
when  he  announced  that  he  was  God,  and  would  now  bring  in  the 
starl  He  is  interested  in  savages,  and  the  Geographic  Magazine 
suits  his  fancy.    He  asks  often  if  the  pictures  are  real,  or  fairy. 

15.  Girl.  Five  years.  A  little  girl,  on  her  way  from  school, 
ran  across  a  neighbor's  lawn.  As  the  child  passed  a  bed  of  chrysan- 
themums, she  paused  before  one  particularly  beautiful  one.  Her 
body  bent  slightly,  her  right  hand  was  raised  a  little  and  she  seemed 


260  APPENDIX  I 

to  be  about  to  seize  the  flower.    Suddenly  the  child  clasped  her 
hand  behind  her  and  ran  to  her  home. 

16.  Girl.    Five   years.    The   child   about   whom   this   incident 
was  told  was  a  little  girl  of  about  five  years  of  age.    The  older 

Bister,  Mary,  who  was  keeping  house  in  the  home  concerned,  was  not 
eehng  well  on  the  day  when  the  Httle  girl  felt  she  ought  to  do  some- 
thing to  help.  In  fact  Mary  had  a  severe  headache.  The  baby 
sister  noticed  this,  and  going  up  to  Mary,  she  climbed  on  her  lap, 
and  said, "  Mary's  sick,  and  Httle  Freda  wants  to  help  her,  what 
can  she  do?  "  The  dinner  dishes  had  not  been  washed,  and  Httle 
Freda,  seeing  this,  ran  and  began  washing  the  dishes  in  her  own  way. 
Mary  was  not  so  sick  but  that  she  could  work  when  it  was  very 
necessary,  so  she  went  and  together  Mary  and  Freda  washed  the 
dishes. 

17.  Girl.  Five  years.  EHzabeth  aged  seven  and  Josephine 
aged  five  attended  the  Beginner's  Class  in  the  church  school. 

The  time  had  come  for  EHzabeth 's  promotion,  but  as  she  went  to 
join  her  class  Josephine  wept  vociferously.  Attempts  to  quiet  her 
were  unavailing  and  the  expected  promotion  was  deferred  for  the 
sake  of  the  other  children. 

The  Sunday  following,  however,  the  teacher  said  that  EHzabeth 
must  not  be  kept  back  on  account  of  her  sister.  Josephine  wept 
bitterly  for  a  while,  but  finaUy  became  interested  in  her  class  work. 
At  the  close  of  the  session  she  promised  to  be  a  good  girl  in  the  future. 

The  third  Sunday  each  sister  took  her  appointed  place  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  school. 

Little  Josephine's  face  was  a  study.  She  was  undoubtedly  labor- 
ing under  a  temporary  nervous  strain,  but  trying  with  all  her  might 
not  to  cry.  She  conquered  herself.  The  result  was  shown  most 
amusingly  at  the  next  session  by  the  maturely  independent  manner 
in  which  she  took  her  place. 

18.  Boy.  Five  years.  "  *  Mamma,  mamma! '  called  Httle  Henry 
from  his  bed  upstairs  to  his  mother,  who  was  reading  to  father  in 
the  hall  below,  '  Please  come  up  and  stay  with  me.' 

"  This  was  an  unusual  request,  as  Henry  had,  since  his  fifth  birth- 
day three  months  before,  talked  or  sung  himself  to  sleep,  con- 
tented with  the  thought  that  mother  and  father  were  within  calling 
distance. 


APPENDIX  I  261 

"  *  No,  my  darling,'  said  mamma;  *  I  cannot  come  up.  But 
father  and  mother  will  be  right  here.'  But  this  assurance  did  not 
satisfy,  and  again  the  request  came,  this  time  more  urgent  than  be- 
fore, *  Please,  mamma,  come.     I'm  afraid  to  stay  by  myself.' 

"  This  tone  indicated  distress,  which  must  not  be  despised, 
but  recognized,  and  reasonably  dealt  with.  '  Go  to  sleep,  my  little 
boy,'  said  father;  '  Jesus  will  take  care  of  you.  You  know  he 
watches  over  all  the  children  while  they  sleep.' 

"  This  seemed  to  have  the  desired  effect,  and  for  a  few  minutes  all 
was  quiet  upstairs.  But  the  composure  was  only  outward;  the 
trouble  within  had  not  been  allayed.  The  little  heart  was  not  yet 
satisfied,  for  the  silence  was  soon  broken  by  a  plaintive  voice,  which 
asked,  *  Papa,  does  Jesus  take  care  of  bad  boys?  ' 

"  What  prompted  this  question?  Why  should  he  ask  it  tonight, 
when  all  day  long  he  had  been  cheerful,  patient  and  obedient? 
Neither  mother  nor  father  could  remember  any  word  or  act  of  the 
day  to  make  specially  appropriate  tonight  this  implied  classification 
of  himself  with  bad  boys.  But  the  question  must  be  answered  with- 
out waiting  to  inquire  why  it  should  be  asked  at  this  particular  time. 
To  endeavor  to  use  it  as  a  lever  to  pry  open  the  heart  of  the  child 
would  be  to  take  an  unfair  advantage  and  might  lead  him  next  time  to 
keep  his  thoughts  and  fears  to  himself. 

"  These  reflections  were  the  rapid  work  of  a  moment,  for  delay 
in  the  answer  might  suggest  doubt  of  its  truth.  So,  without  at- 
tempting to  follow  the  lead  of  his  question,  I  promptly  replied,  '  Yes 
Henry;  Jesus  takes  care  of  bad  boys  too.  He  loves  them,  and  is 
sorry  they  are  bad;  and  if  they  are  sorry  and  want  to  be  good,  he'll 
help  them  to  do  right.' 

"  A  few  moments  of  silence,  and  then,  *  I  want  to  be  good,'  came 
back  from  the  little  room  upstairs.  There  were  no  more  calls  for 
mother,  and  ten  minutes  later,  when  I  had  occasion  to  go  up  for 
something,  he  was  sleeping  the  quiet  sleep  of  the  just. 

"  Next  morning,  as  we  finished  breakfast,  Henry  asked,  *  Mamma, 
may  I  have  the  rest  of  my  candy  now?  '  Some  one  had  given  him 
four  chocolate  drops  the  day  before,  two  of  which  he  was  allowed 
to  eat  after  dinner,  the  remaining  two  being  put  away  in  the  side- 
board to  be  eaten  next  day. 

"  As  I  arose  to  get  them  for  him,  Henry  said,  in  that  quizzical 
tone  which  in  the  fulness  of  its  suggestiveness  is  an  inimitable 


262  APPENDIX  I 

characteristic  of  childhood,  *  I  'spec'  the  rats  have  been  eating  my 
candy.'  As  I  took  up  the  saucer  which  held  them,  I  noticed  on 
each  of  the  chocolate  drops  the  prints  of  two  little  teeth,  which  had 
just  scraped  the  brown  surface,  and  left  their  marks  on  the  creamy 
white  within.  They  were  not  rats'  teeth,  but  evidently  those  of  a 
httle  human  sinner.  '  Yes,'  said  I,  as  I  stooped  to  kiss  the  sinner  on 
the  cheek, '  and  here's  the  rat  that  did  it.  This  is  the  rat  that  ate  the 
malt  that  lay  in  the  house  that  Jack  built.'  This  led  to  a  frank 
confession  that  late  in  the  afternoon  he  had  climbed  on  a  chair  and 
taken  out  the  candy  '  just  to  see  if  it  tasted  like  the  other.' 

"  My  silent  questions  of  the  night  before  were  answered,  though 
I  did  not  tell  him  that  I  had  either  asked  those  questions  or  found 
their  answer."  ^ 

19.  Boy.  Five  and  a  half  years.  Edward,  aged  five  and  a  half 
years,  "  says  his  prayers  "  kneeling  in  his  bed  beside  his  mother,  but 
gets  down  on  his  knees  beside  his  bed  to  "  pray  "  when  he  wants  to 
ask  any  special  gift  or  favor.  The  night  before  the  Fourth  of  July, 
having  heard  his  father  remark  that  it  would  probably  rain,  as  there 
had  been  a  dull  sunset,  Edward  knelt  by  his  bed  and  prayed :  "  God, 
keep  your  bad  sunset  till  a  day  when  Bobby  and  I  want  to  play  with 
our  trains."  Then  he  called  to  assure  his  father  that  it  wouldn't 
rain  because  he  had  asked  God  not  to  let  it  rain.  And  the  next  day 
was  clear. 

Some  day  when  Edward's  "  prayer  "  is  not  so  satisfactorily  and 
mmediately  answered  there  will  be  opportunity  for  another  lesson 
in  his  reUgious  training! 

20.  Girl.  Six  years.  "  Many  a  mother  thoughtlessly  says  to  her 
child,  '  Be  good  to  little  brother  while  I  am  gone,  and  I  will  buy  you 
some  candy.'  *  Give  that  to  little  sister,  and  I  will  give  you  some- 
thing better.'  SeK-control  must  not,  in  this  way,  be  connected  in 
the  child's  mind  with  gratification  of  physical  appetite,  nor  can  the 
child  learn  the  sweet  joy  of  unselfishness  through  the  feeding  of  his 
greed  of  possession.  I  once  discovered  that  a  little  girl  in  a  primary 
class  had  written  her  spelling  lesson  upon  the  wrong  side  of  the  hem 
of  her  linen  apron.  Upon  my  afterwards  showing  her  the  dishonesty 
of  the  deed,  she  burst  into  tears  and  sobbed  out,  '  I  couldn't  help  it; 

1  Quoted  from  the  Sunday  School  Times,  by  Patterson  Du  Bois  in  Fireside  Child 
Study,  copyright,  1903,  by  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.  Du  Bois'  own  comments  on  this 
story  are  important. 


APPENDIX  I  263 

I  couldn't  help  it.  Papa  promised  me  a  diamond  ring  if  I  wouldn't 
miss  in  my  spelling  this  year.*  The  desire  to  obtain  the  coveted 
jewel  was  so  great  that  the  bounds  of  honesty  and  integrity  had  been 
overstepped,  I  once  knew  a  church-school  superintendent  to  say, 
'Everybody  who  comes  early  for  a  month  shall  have  a  present.' 
Doubtless,  punctuality  was  obtained,  but  at  the  price  of  moral 
degradation.  Another  illustration  in  the  childhood  of  a  woman 
shall  be  told  in  her  own  words:  'Once  when  I  was  a  Uttle  girl,' 
she  said,  '  our  parents  had  left  my  older  sister  and  myself  alone  for 
the  evening.  Getting  sleepy,  we  went  into  our  mother's  bedroom, 
and  cHmbing  upon  the  bed  drew  a  shawl  over  us,  preparatory  to  a 
nap  before  their  return.  In  a  little  while  my  sister  complained  of 
feeling  cold.  With  the  loving  impulse  of  a  generous  child,  I  gave 
her  my  part  of  the  shawl;  with  a  real  pleasure  I  spread  it  over  her, 
and  we  were  soon  asleep.  Upon  the  return  of  our  parents,  the  ques- 
tion was  asked  why  my  sister  had  all  the  covering  while  I  had  none. 
Innocently  enough,  explanation  was  made  in  the  words,  '  She  was 
colder  than  I,  so  I  gave  her  my  part.'  '  You  dear,  blessed,  unselfish 
little  thing! '  exclaimed  my  father, '  here's  ten  cents  for  you  to  reward 
you  for  your  unselfishness.'  A  few  evenings  after,  our  parents  were 
again  invited  out,  and  again  we  children  were  left  alone  in  our  part 
of  the  house.  I  began  at  once  planning  a  scheme  to  coax  my  sister 
to  again  go  into  our  mother's  bedroom  for  a  nap  in  order  that  I 
might  repeat  the  deed  which  had  earned  me  ten  cents.  I  succeeded, 
although  this  time  it  was  with  some  coaxing  that  I  got  her  to  accept 
the  extra  portion  of  the  covering.  For  nearly  an  hour  I  lay  waiting 
for  the  return  of  my  father,  in  order  that  I  might  gain  financial 
profit  by  my  conduct.  Thus  easily  and  quickly  the  sweet,  generous 
unselfish  impulse  of  a  childish  heart  was  changed  by  the  mere  thought 
of  material  gain  into  sordid,  selfish  and  deceptive  conduct."  * 

21.  Girl.  Six  years  old.  My  niece  who  was  staying  with  me 
annoyed  me  greatly  by  visiting  children  whose  home  was  very  dirty. 
I  first  forbade  her  going  without  giving  any  reason.  Then  I  talked 
with  her  saying  that  I  feared  she  would  get  ill.  She  listened  quietly 
until  I  finished.  Then  in  emphatic  tones  that  expressed  surprise  at 
my  Umited  knowledge,  she  said,  "  Why  auntie  you  don't  under- 
stand, I  shan't  get  sick.     I'm  clean  and  don't  you  see,  nobody  goes 

>  From  A  Study  of  Child  Nature,  copyright,  1890,  by  Elizabeth  Harrison.  Pub- 
lished by  the  National  Kindergarten  and  Elementary  College. 


264  APPENDIX  I 

to  see  them  and  I  must."  I  said  nothing  but  thought  much  and 
finally  decided  to  invite  those  children  to  play  in  my  garden.  I 
must  add  that  they  came  clean. 

I  reahze  that  many  elements  enter  and  various  explanations  may 
be  given  but  as  my  niece  spoke  to  me  I  firmly  believe  that  she  had 
a  feeUng  of  sympathy  for  those  children.  She  was  six  years  old. 
She  was  not  generally  disobedient  and  was  a  very  affectionate  child. 

22.  Boy.  Six  years.  John's  playmate,  Robert,  had  been  seri- 
ously ill.  When  Robert  was  convalescent,  John,  who  was  six 
years  old,  was  allowed  to  go  to  see  him  accompanied  by  his  mother. 
John's  mother  noted  his  preoccupation  during  the  morning  and 
could  account  for  it  later  when  they  were  about  to  start  to  see 
Robert,  for  John  had  his  beloved  toy  horse  wrapped  clumsily  in 
paper  under  his  arm  and  upon  his  mother's  inquiry  he  said  it  was  to 
be  Robert's  now. 

23.  Boy.  Seven  years.  A  country  boy  of  seven  hved  a  mile 
from  the  post-ofl&ce  and  it  was  his  duty  to  go  for  the  mail  each 
evening  at  seven  o'clock.  On  one  evening  he  learned  that  there 
was  to  be  a  free  Victrola  concert  in  the  school  building  near  the 
post-ofiice  at  7.30.  He  would  not  have  time  to  go  home  to  get 
permission  to  stay  for  the  concert  and  he  knew  that  if  he  stayed  later 
than  usual  his  parents  would  worry  about  him.  He  wanted  very 
much  to  hear  the  Victrola  because  he  had  only  heard  one  in  his  life 
before  and  there  were  very  few  opportunities  in  his  community  for 
that  kind  of  entertainment.  He  finally  decided  to  miss  this  op- 
portunity and  go  home  as  usual. 

24.  Boy.  Seven  years.  He  was  asked  by  a  neighbor's  child  to 
help  put  in  kindling.  His  friend  said:  "  Mother  will  give  us  some 
pennies  for  doing  this."  The  boy  replied,  "  Sure  I'll  help,  but  I 
don't  want  any  pennies.  I  don't  think  Mr.  Hale  would  want  me 
to  take  them."  This  followed  the  celebration  of  Edward  Everett 
Hale  Day  at  the  church  school. 

25.  Boy.  Nine  years.  To  illustrate  from  my  own  experience 
when  about  nine  years  of  age.  In  connection  with  a  lesson  about 
John  the  Baptist,  we  had  a  beautiful  large  chart  picture  of  the  child 
John  scantily  clad  in  rough  shepherd's  attire  with  a  beautiful  lamb 
at  his  side.  The  result  on  me  was  that  I  wanted  to  look  Uke  the 
picture  and  have  a  lamb  like  that.     It  affected  my  brother  in  the 


APPENDIX  I  265 

same  way.  Frequently  large  herds  of  sheep  passed  our  house  and 
we  invariably  used  to  go  out  and  beg  a  lamb  and  finally  bought 
one  which  caused  no  small  amount  of  trouble.  I  also  remember 
a  picture  of  David  with  his  sling  that  led  to  bad  results.  The 
objects  of  the  lessons  in  those  cases  were  not  attained;  they  were 
rather  defeated. 

26.  Boy.  Nine  years.  Boy  of  nine  asked  by  mother  to  go  on 
errand.  Mother  didn't  want  to  ask,  as  boy  was  about  to  go  to 
play  ball.  "  It  would  be  a  great  help  to  me."  "  Sure  I'll  go,"  he 
said .  At  night  mother  offered  him  a  piece  of  money,  but  he  wouldn't 
take  it.  He  said  he  had  heard  a  story  at  school  that  made  him  feel 
he  ought  to  do  his  share  at  home.  (The  story  was  "  What  Bradley 
Owed  "  in  Children's  Story  Sermons,  by  H.  T.  Kerr.) 

27.  Boy.  Nine  years.  A  boy  of  about  nine  while  playing  with 
his  boy  companions  was  asked  by  them  to  come  along  to  a  small 
creek  some  distance  away,  to  which  he  had  been  forbidden  to  go  by 
his  parents.  He  would  not  let  himself  be  persuaded.  To  silence 
his  friends  he  asked  them  in  a  somewhat  self-righteous  way  if  they 
did  not  remember  the  golden  text  of  last  Sunday's  lesson:  "  My 
son,  if  sinners  entice  thee  consent  thou  not ! " 

28.  Girls.  Ten  to  twelve  years.  Answers  to  questions  in  a  game 
of  Bible  Characters: 

Adam.  —  First  man.  God  put  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden,  and  in  that  garden  was  a  magic  tree  which  God  told  them  not 
to  touch.  The  devil  tempted  them  and  they  ate  of  the  tree.  Then 
God  drove  them  out  of  the  garden  and  they  starved  to  death. 

Abraham.  —  He  was  very  poor  and  only  had  three  books  when 
he  was  a  boy.     (Lincoln.) 

—  Father  of  the  Jews. 

Moses.  —  He  was  a  baby.  Were  he  and  Jesus  the  same?  (Child 
nine  years  old.) 

Joshua.  —  The  man  who  wouldn't  let  the  king  kill  all  the  baby 
boys. 

Ahah.  —  A  king  of  Israel  who  had  Jezebel  for  a  wife.  She  wor- 
shiped idols. 

He  ruled  the  country  but  she  ruled  the  king. 

Jesus.  —  Jesus  was  a  Jew  until  they  crucified  him,  then  he  rose 
from  the  dead  a  Christian. 


266  APPENDIX  I 

29.  Boy.  Twelve  years.  As  I  was  walking  through  a  crowded 
business  street  down-town,  I  noticed  a  little  pony  that  was  harnessed 
to  a  little  cart.  The  pony  was  in  danger  of  being  hurt  or  perhaps 
killed.  Then  just  as  quick  as  a  flash  a  boy  about  the  age  of  twelve, 
at  the  risk  of  his  own  Hfe,  darted  out  between  the  wagons  and  auto- 
mobiles, threw  his  arm  around  the  pony's  neck  and  brought  him 
safely  to  the  edge  of  the  curb.  The  little  boy  then  turned  to  his 
companions  and  said,  "  Those  greedy  fellows  wouldn't  care  if  they 
killed  the  poor  httle  horse."  He  stayed  with  the  pony  until  he 
was  sure  of  his  being  safe  and  out  of  danger. 

30.  Boy.  Twelve  years.  Scene:  A  Boys'  Camp  (a  religious 
organization);  athletic  field;  championship  events;  100  yard  dash 
for  championship  among  younger  boys. 

Situation:  W.  T.  age  12,  recognized  as  best  runner;  entered  with 
seven  boys,  eleven  to  fourteen  years. 

The  starter  lined  boys  on  the  mark  and  conamanded:  "  On  your 
mark;  get  set;  go!  " 

W.  T.  got  an  "  early  "  start,  ran  about  three  yards,  was  ahead 
of  other  boys,  then  slowed  down.  The  other  boys  passed  him  and 
finished  the  race.  He  dropped  out  and  passed  through  the  crowd 
of  witnesses. 

The  starter  noticed  all,  and  asked  W.  T.,  "  What  is  the  matter? 
Why  did  you  stop?  "  W.  T.  answered:  "  I  beheve  my  start  was  a 
'  steal '  and  I  couldn't  run;  God  wouldn't  Uke  it." 

Note:  W.  T.  lost  the  championship. 

31.  Boy.  Sixteen  years.  Tony,  sixteen  years  old,  was  captain 
and  catcher  for  one  of  the  camp  clubs.  His  team  was  playing  the 
final  and  deciding  game  for  the  championship.  The  inning  was  the 
last  of  the  ninth;  two  men  were  out;  second  and  third  were  occupied, 
and  Louis  the  best  batter  of  the  other  team  was  "  up."  According 
to  the  common  ethics  of  the  game,  the  play  was  to  deliberately  walk 
him;  especially  in  this  game  as  he  had  hit  safely  on  his  previous  trips 
to  the  plate.  The  pitcher  wished  to  throw  four  wide  balls,  but  Tony 
ordered  him  to  try  to  put  Louis  out,  although  he  reaUzed  the  game 
hung  on  the  play. 

Louis  knocked  a  two  bagger  which  brought  over  the  plate  the 
tying  and  winning  runs. 


APPENDIX  I  267 

By  this  act,  done  in  the  full  reaUzation  of  the  consequences,  Tony 
had  striven  with  his  best  to  show  a  higher  form  of  sportsmanship. 

32.  Girl.  Age  ?  A  young  girl  once  rushed  into  a  burning  room 
in  order  to  save  a  pet  of  hers.  Upon  being  told  of  the  folly  and 
danger  of  such  an  act,  she  stated  that  it  was  a  sin  to  be  cruel  to 
dumb  animals,  and  that  she  thought  it  very  cruel  to  allow  the 
animals  to  be  roasted. 

33.  Boy.  Age  ?  A  certain  boy  had  been  looking  forward  with 
eagerness  to  a  game  of  ball  in  which  he  was  to  participate.  His 
younger  sister  had  for  days  been  much  distressed  over  the  loss  of  a 
pet  kitten. 

The  afternoon  on  which  the  great  game  was  to  come  off  the  lad 
heard  that  a  stray  kitten  had  been  seen  quite  a  distance  from  his 
home.  He  knew  that  if  he  went  to  this  part  of  town  to  find  out 
whether  or  no  the  kitten  was  the  one  belonging  to  his  sister  he  could 
not  return  in  time  for  the  ball  game.  Nevertheless  he  started  off, 
and  late  that  afternoon  returned  bringing  in  his  arms  his  sister's  pet. 


APPENDIXjiI 

Bibliography 

For  convenience  of  reference,  the  books  mentioned  in  the  text, 
together  with  others  that  will  be  of  use  for  further  study  of  problems 
raised  in  the  several  chapters,  are  Usted  below,  with  the  names  of  the 
publishers.  The  first  five  sections  include  books  of  general  interest 
in  the  field  of  child  psychology.  In  Section  6  the  books  are  listed 
by  problems,  following  the  arrangement  of  the  chapters  of  the  text. 


Books  that  deal  with  the  problem  of  method  in  the  study  of 
children: 

1  King,   Irving.  —  The  Psychology  of  Child  Development,  Uni- 

versity of  Chicago  Press. 

2  Thorndike,  E.  L.  —  Notes  on  Child  Study,  Teachers  College 

Columbia  University. 

3  McMannis,  J.  T.  —  The  Study  of  the  Behavior  of  an  Individual 

Child,  Warwick  and  York. 


Books  that  deal  with  fundamental  facts  of  behavior  and  growth: 

4  Judd,  C.  H.  —  Genetic  Psychology  for  Teachers,  Appletons. 

5  Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.  —  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  Edition  of 

1917,  Macmillan.    Topically  arranged. 

6  Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.  —  The  Individual  in   the  Making,  Houghton 

Miflflin.  Arranged  by  stages  of  growth.  Full  of  excellent 
concrete  material,  and  dealing  with  the  child  as  a  gi'owing 
social  being. 

7  Sully,   James.  —  Studies  of    Childhood,  Appletons.     Contains 

"A  Father's  Diary."  Children's  Ways,  Appletons.  A  briefer 
form  of  the  above.     Both  are  rich  in  concrete  material. 

8  Tanner,  A.  E.  —  The  Child,  His  Thinking,  Feeling  and  Doing, 

268 


APPENDIX  II  269 

Rand,  McNally.    Valuable  compendium  of  infonnation  on 
many  topics.    Extensive  bibliographies. 
9  Norsworthy  and  Whitley.  —  Psychology  of  Childhood,  Macmil- 
lan.    Comprehensive  study    giving    considerable    attention 
to  the  psychology  of  learning,  and  to  original  nature. 


More  popular  books  for  general  reading  or  class  use: 

10  DuBois,  Patterson.  —  Bedkoninga  from   Littk   Hands,  Dodd, 

Mead. 

11  DuBois,  Patterson.  —  Fireside  Child  Studies,  Dodd,  Mead, 

12  DuBois,  Patterson.  —  The  Culture  of  Justice,  Dodd,  Mead. 
These  books  are  especially  useful  in  estabhshing  a  sympathetic 

attitude  toward  children.      Should    be  read  by  all  parents. 

13  Forbush,  W.  B. —  Child  Study  and  Child  Training,  Scribner's. 

A  text  for  a  class  of  parents  or  young  people.    Thirty-six 
lessons  and  twenty-seven  laboratory  experiments. 

14  Harrison,   Ehzabeth.  —  A   Study   of  Child   Nature,   National 

Kindergarten  and  Elementary  College.    Elementary.    Help- 
ful in  getting  teachers  to  see  the  child's  point  of  view. 

15  Lamoreaux,   A.   B.  —  The    Unfolding  Life,   Revell.    Popular 

elementary  training  course. 

16  St.  John,  E.  F.  — Child  Nature  and  Child  Nurture,  Pilgrim 

Press.     A  good  text  for  a  class  of  teachers  or  parents. 

17  Weigle,  L.  A.  —  The  Pupil  and  the  Teacher,  Doran.     Section 

on  "  The  Pupil."    See  also  the  section  dealing  with  the  child 
in  the  Pilgrim  Training  Course  for  Teachers. 

4 

Books  more  particularly  concerned  with  the  moral  and  religion  ^ 
nature  of  children: 

18  Coe,  G.  A.  —  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,  Revell.    An 

essential  book. 

19  Coe,  G.  A. — Articles  in   Hastings'  Encyclopedia  of  Religion 

and  Ethics,    on  "  Infancy,"  "  Childhood,"  "  Adolescence," 
"  Growth,"  and  "  Morbidness." 

20  Dawson,  G.  E.  —  The  Child  and  His  Religion,  University  of 

Chicago  Press.    A  study  of  children's  interests. 


270  APPENDIX  II 

21  Dewey,   John.  —  Moral  Principles    in  Education,   Houghton 

Mifflin.     Short  and  clear. 

22  Forbush,  W.  B.  —  The  Coming  Generation,  Appletons. 
^  23  Griggs,  E.  H.  —  Moral  Education.    Huebsch. 

24  Koons,   W.   G.  —  The  Child's  Religious  Life,   Jennings  and 

Graham. 

25  MacCunn,    John.  —  The    Making    of   Character,    Macmillan. 

Theoretical  treatment  of  educational  problems,  containing 
much  wise  comment  on  moral  development. 

26  Mumford,  Edith  E.  R.  —  The  Dawn  of  Character,  Longmans, 

Green.    A  book  of  sound  insight  and  great  practical  value. 

27  Mumford,  Edith  E.  R.  —  The  Dawn  of  Religion  in  the  Mind  of^ 

a    Child,  Longmans,    Green.     Indispensable.     Shows   real 
sympathy  for  the  child's  religious  experience. 

28  Shand,  A.  —  Foundations  of  Character,  Macmillan. 

29  Sharp,  F.  C.  —  Education  for  Character,  Bobbs-Merrill. 

^  30  Sisson,  E.  O.  —  The  Essentials  of  Character,  Macmillan.     "  A 
practical  study  of  the  aim  of  moral  education." 


Books  containing  data  for  study.     (List  taken  from  Kirkpatrick's 
Fundamentals  of  Child  Study.) : 

31  Aldrich.  —  Story  of  a  Bad  Boy,  Houghton  Mifflin. 

32  Burnett.  —  The  One  I  knew  Best  of  All,  Houghton  Mifflin. 

33  Canton.  —  W.  V.,  Her  Book  and  Various  Verses,  Stone  and 

Kimball. 

34  Howells.  —  A  Boy^s  Town,  Harper. 

35  Keller.  —  The  Story  of  My  Life,  Doubleday,  Page. 

36  Kelly.  —  Little  Citizens,  McClure,  Phillips. 

37  Laughlin.  —  Johnnie,  The  Bowen  Merrill  Co. 

38  Loti.  —  Romance  of  a  Child,  Rand,  McNally. 

39  Martin.  —  Emmy  Lou,  McClure,  PhiUips. 

40  Meynell,  Alice.  —  The  Children,  John  Lane. 

41  Phillips.  —  Just  about  a  Boy,  Herbert  S.  Stone. 

42  Shinn.  —  Biography  of  a  Baby,  Houghton  Miffln. 

43  Smith,  W.  H.  —  The  Evolution  of  Dodd,  Rand,  McNally. 

44  Sully,  J.  —  "A  Father's  Diary  "  in  Studies  of  Childhood. 

45  Tracy.  —  The  Psychology  of  Childhood,  D.  C.  Heath. 


APPENDIX  II  271 

46  Warner.  —  Being  a  Boy,  Houghton  MifHin. 

47  White.  —  Court  of  Boyville,  Doubleday  and  McClure  Co. 

Attention  should  be  called  to  Mark  Twain,  Booth  Tarkington, 
Owen  Johnson,  and  other  noveUsts  of  childhood,  whose  writings 
have  helped  to  break  down  the  barriers  between  youth  and  age. 


6 

Special  references  for  the  topics  discussed  in  the  several  chapters : 

CHAPTER  I 
The  Point  of  View 

48  Coe,  G.  A.  —  A  Social  Theory  of  Religious  Education,  Scribner's. 

49  Cooley,  C.  H.  —  Human  Nature  and  the  Social  Order,  Scribner's. 
60  Cope,  H.  F.  —  Religious  Education  in  the  Church,  Scribner's. 

51  Dewey,  John.  —  Democracy  and  Education,  Macmillan. 

52  Fiske,  John.  —  The  Meaning  of  Infancy,  Houghton  Mifliin. 

CHAPTER  IV 
Observing  the  Religious  Life  of  Children 
See  books  1,  2,  3,  6, 18  and  48. 

53  Coe,  G.  A.  —  The  Psychology  of  Religion,  University  of  Chicago 

Press. 
64  Hartshome,  H.  —  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School  (Out  of  print) . 

CHAPTERS  II,  III  AND  V 
The  First  Eight  Years 
See  books  under  the  first  five  sections  of  the  bibUography,  particu- 
larly 6,  10-12,  17,  18,  19,  26,  27;  also  103-105,  110. 

55  Cope,  H.  F.  —  Religious  Education  in  the  Family,  University  of 

Chicago  Press. 

56  Fitz,  Mrs.  R.  K.  and  G.  W.  —  Problems  of  Babyhood,  Holt. 

57  Major,  D.  R.  —  First  Steps  in  Mental  Growth,  Macmillan. 

58  Preyer,  W.  —  The  Mind  of  the  Child,  Appletons. 

69  Preyer,  W.  —  Mental  Development  in  the  Child,  Appletons. 
60  Rankin,  M.  E.  —  A  Course  for  Beginners  in  Religious  Educa- 
tion, Scribner's. 


272  APPENDIX  II 

CHAPTER  VII 

Boys  and  Girls 

See  books  under  the  first  five  sections  of  this  bibliography,  particu- 
larly 6,  17,  18,  19;  also  100,  109,  110. 

61  Forbush,  W.  B.  —  The  Boy  Problem,  Pilgrim  Press. 

62  McKeever,  W.  A.  —  Training  the  Boy,  Macmillan. 

63  McKeever,  W.  A.  —  Training  the  Girl,  Macmillan. 

64  Moxcey,  M.  E.  —  Girlhood  and  Character,  Abingdon  Press, 

CHAPTER  VIII 
The  Transition 
See  books  under  the  first  five  sections  of  this  bibliography,  par- 
ticularly 6,  17,  18,  19;  also  61-64,  100  (Sex  Education),  102,  109, 
110. 

65  Alexander,  J.  L.  —  The  Sunday  School  and  the  Teens,  Associa- 

tion Press. 

66  Coe,  G.  A.  —  The  Spiritual  Life,  Revell. 

67  Hall,  G.  S.  — Adolescence,  Appletons.    Two  volumes. 

68  Hall,   G.  S.  —  Youth,  Its  Education,  Regimen  and  Hygiene. 

Sixty-seven  abridged.    Appletons. 

69  King,  Irving.  —  The  High  School  Age,  Bobbs-Merrill. 

CHAPTER  VI 
Likenesses  and  Differences 

70  Strayer  and  Norsworthy.  —  How  to  Teach,  Macmillan. 

71  Thorndike,  E.  L.  —  Education,  Macmillan. 

72  Thorndike,  E.  L.  —  Educational  Psychology,  Vol.  Ill,  Teachers 

College. 

73  Thorndike,  E.  L.  —  Educational  Psychology,  Briefer  Course. 

74  Thorndike,  E.  L.  —  Individuality,  Houghton  Mifflin. 

CHAPTERS  IX  AND  X 

Our  Inherited  Equipment 
See  books  under  Sections  I  and  II  and  under  Chapters  I  and  VI, 
and  also  48. 

,  75  Calhoim,  A.  W.  —  A  Social  History  of  the  American  Family, 
from  Colonial  Times  to  the  Present,  Clark. 


APPENDIX  II  273 

76  Downing,  Elliott.  —  The  Third  and  Fourth  Generation^  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  Press. 
^1  Goodsell,  W.  —  A  History  of  the  Family  as  a  Social  and  Educa- 
tional Institution,  Macmillan. 

78  Thorndike,  E.  L.  —  Educational   Psychology,  Vol.  I,  Teachers 

College. 

CHAPTERS  XI  AND  XII 
Making  Over  Human  Nature 

79  Colvin,  S.  S.  —  The  Learning  Process,  Macmillan. 

80  Swift,  E.  J.  —  Mind  in  the  Making,  Scribner's. 

81  Thorndike,  E.  L. — Educational  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  Teachers 

College. 
Concerning  Action:  See  books  under  Chapters  IX  and  X,  also 

82  Dewey,  J.  and  E.  —  Schools  of  Tomorrow,  E.  P.  Dutton. 

83  Diffendorfer,  R.  E.  —  Missionary  Education  in  Home  and  School, 

Abingdon  Press. 

84  Hutchins,  W.  N.  —  Graded  Social  Service  for  the  Sunday  School, 

University  of  Chicago  Press. 

85  Hutton,  J.  G.  —  The  Missionary  Education  of  Juniors,  Mis- 

sionary Education  Movement. 

86  James,  William.  —  Psychology,  Briefer  Course,  X,  Holt. 

87  James  William.  —  Talks  to  Teachers,  VIII,  Holt. 

88  Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.  —  The  Use  of  Money,  How  to  Save  and  How 

to  Spend,  Bobbs-Merrill. 
Concerning  Thinking: 

89  Dewey,  John.  —  How  We  Think,  D.  C.  Heath. 

90  McMurry,  F.  M.  —  Elementary  School  Standards,  World  Book 

Co 

91  McMurry,  F.  M.  —  How  to  Study,  Houghton  Mifflin. 

92  Miller,  I.  E.  —  The  Psychology  of  Thinking,  Macmillan. 

93  Woodworth,  R.  S.  —  Dynamic  Psychology,  Columbia  University 

Press. 
Concerning  Worship:  See  54,  also 

94  Hartshorne,  H.  —  Manual  for  Training  in  Worship,  Scribner's. 

CHAPTER  XIII 
Motives 
See  book  93. 

95  Cabot,  R.  C.  —  What  Men  Live  By,  Houghton  Mifflin. 


274  APPENDIX  II 

96  Dewey,  John.  —  Interest  and  Effort  in  ifducation,  Houghton 

Mifflin. 

97  Galloway,  T.  W.  —  The  Use  of   Motives  in  the  Teaching  of 

Morals  and  Religion,  Pilgrim  Press. 

CHAPTER  XIV 
Health 

98  Bigelow,  M.  A.  and  A.  N.  —  Applied  Biology,  Macmillan. 

99  Bigelow,  M.  A.  and   A.  N.  —  Introduction    to    Biology,  Mac- 

millan. 

100  Bigelow,  M.  A.  — Sex  Education,  Macmillan. 

101  Cabot,  R.  C.  —  A  Layman's  Handbook  of  Medicine,  Houghton 

Mifflin. 

102  Fisher  and  Fisk.  —  How  to  Live,  Funk  and  Wagnall. 

103  Holt,  L.  E.  —  The  Care  and  Feeding  of  Children,  Appletons 

104  Kerley,  C.  G.  — Short  Talks  with  Young  Mothers,  Putnam. 

105  Oppenheim,  N.  —  The  Development  of  the  Child,  Macmillan. 

106  O'Shea  and  Kellog.  —  The  Body  in  Health,  Macmillan. 

107  Read,  M.  L.  —  Mother  craft  Manual,  Little,  Brown. 

108  Rowe,  S.  H.  —  The  Physical  Nature  of  the  Child  and  How  to 

Study  It,  Macmillan. 

109  Taylor,  C.  K.  —  The  Boys'  Camp  Manual,  Century. 

110  Tyler,  J.  M.  —  Growth  and  Education,  Macmillan  —  Extensive 
Bibliography. 

CHAPTERS  XV  AND  XVI 
Work  and  Play 
See  books  5,  28,  48,  68,  69,  78,  80,  81,  95. 

111  Atkinson,  H.  A.  —  The  Church  and  the  People's  Play,  Pilgrim 

Press. 

112  Bancroft,  J.  H.  —  Games  for  Playground,  Home,  School  and 

Gymnasium,  Macmillan. 

113  Bates  and  Orr.  —  Pageants  and  Pageantry,  Ginn. 

114  Cannon,  W.  B.  —  Bodily  Changes  in  Pain,  Hunger,  Fear  and 

Rage,  Appletons.    Technical  discussion  referred    to  in  the 
text. 

115  Colvin  and  Bagley.  —  Human  Behavior.    Macmillan.    Espe- 

cially Chapter  V  on  "  Behavior  and  the  Feelings." 


APPENDIX  II  275 

116  Crile,  G.  W.  —  The  Origin  and  Nature  of  the  Emotions,  W.  B. 

Saunders  Co.    Technical  discussion  from  the  medical  stand- 
point, referred  to  in  the  text. 

117  Curtis,  H.  S.  — Education  through  Play,  Macmillan. 

118  Curtis,    H.    S.  —  The   Play   Movement  and  Its  Significance, 

Macmillan. 

119  Curtis,  E.  W.  —  The  Dram/jUic  Instinct  in  Education,  Houghton 

Mifflin. 

120  Gates,  H.  W.  —  Recreation  and  the  Church,  University  of  Chi- 

cago Press. 

121  Johnson,  G.  E.  —  Education  by  Plays  and  Games,  Ginn. 

122  Lee,  J.  —  Play  in  Education,  Macmillan. 

123  Mackay,  C.  D.  —  How  to  Produce  Children's  Plays,  Holt. 

124  Mackay,  P.  —  A  Substitute  for  War,  Macmillan. 

125  McDougall,  W.  —  Social  Psychology,  Luce.     Especially  Chap- 

ters III,  V,  and  VI. 

126  Patrick,  G.  T.  W.  —  Psychology  of  Relaxation. 

CHAPTER  XVII 
Character 
See  Section  IV  of  this  bibUography,  and  also  48. 

127  Hoben,  Allan.  —  The  Church  School  of  Citizenship,  University  of 

Chicago  Press. 

128  Schoff,  H.  K.  —  The  Wayward  Child.  A  study  of  the  causes  of 

crime.    Bobbs-Merrill. 


APPENDIX  III.  — Chart  A 


CHART  OF  SOCIAL  DEVELOPMENT 

To  be  made  out  for  some  one  child  or  for  children  in  general 


Age 

1     2     3 

4       5 

6       7       8 

9      10     11 

12           1 

Associates: 

Constant 
contacts 

mother,  chil- 
dren of  own 
age,    police- 
man, etc. 

Occasional 
contacts 

Self-chosen 
contacts 

Places  where  most  time 
is  spent 

Predominant  Activity 

Plays  and  Games 

Work  (see  Ch.  XV) 

Stronger  Instincts 

Things  valued  highly 
(willingly  sacrificed  for) 

Time-span  of  recalled  and 
imagined  experience  — 
one   day,  one   month, 
one  year,  etc. 

Persons  most  influential 

Motives — how  influenced 
— suggestion,  example, 
argument,  threats,  re- 
wards, etc. 

Typical  Purposes 

Problems   of  Social  Ad- 
justment 

Problems  of  Intellectual 
Adjustment 

276 


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APPENDIX  III.  — Chart  C 


TIME  SCHEDULE 


DIRECTIONS :  The  schedule  is  to  be  filled 
out  every  day  by  pupil  or  parent,  showing 
as  fully  and  accurately  as  possible,  how  each 
day  is  spent  between  rising  and  going  to  bed. 
The  time  is  important.  Return  the  Sched- 
ule to  the  School  next  Sunday. 


Pupil's  name. „ 

Day  School S.  S.  Grade 

D.  S.  Grade Week  of. 1 


SUMMARY 

Hour 

Sunday 

Hour 

Monday 

Hour 

Tuesday 

{Do  not  fill  in) 

At  home 

At  school 

Indoor  play 

Outdoor  play 

Home  study  or 

practise 

Special  Lessons 

House  work 

Business „... 

Entertainments 

Meals,  dressing,  etc. 

Unaccounted  for 

Total  waking  hours 



1 

< 

o 

a 
o 

o 

CO 

a 
t 

0 

CO 

-' 

00 

06 

00 

2 

Hour 

Wednesday 

Hour 

Thursday 

Hour 

Friday 

Hour 

Saturday 

INDEX 


Adolescence,  characteristics, 
llSfif. 

Air,  a  factor  in  health,  194. 

Attitudes,  significance  of  in 
religion,  19-21;  caught  in 
family  Ufe,  20,  65;  develop- 
ment of,  68,  173;  a  means 
of  self-control,  47;  Christian 
attitudes,  65,  67,  174. 

B 

Behavior,  laws  of,  83.  See 
Rehgious  behavior. 

Bibhography,  268ff. 

Boys,  a  diary  quoted,  126; 
differences  from  girls,  88; 
a  boy's  feelings,  100;  inci- 
dent of  a  "bad"  boy,  99; 
boys'  opinions  of  boys,  125; 
pugnacious  behavior,  98;  how 
boys  spend  their  time,  68; 
technical  skill,  101. 

Brotherhood,  attitude  of,  67f. 

Bungalow,  building  a  bungalow 
in  the  fifth  grade,  162. 


Cases  for  study,  254ff. 

Coe,  G.  A.,  40,  86,  183;  conver- 
sion graphs,  120, 121.  Sylla- 
bus of  Childhood,  277. 

Competition,  106,  107,  108. 


Consciousness,  common,  10,  21; 

a  baby's,  11;   individual,  12, 

13,  21;  of  God,  22;  self-,  14, 

21. 
Consequences,  foresight  of,  168, 

180. 
Conversion,  119,  120. 
Cooperation,  as  rehgious  asset, 

109;  and  competition,  106-107; 

in  the  Christian  program,  66, 

77;    in  class,   43;    necessary 

for  kindergarten  work,  24-25; 

spirit  of,  18,  65,  72, 106f .,  225; 

versiis  charity,  67. 
Culture,  156f.,  158. 


Definitions,  by  four-year-old,  29. 

Democracy  and  character,  229; 
and  Christianity,  230;  and 
education,  159f.,  231;  and 
leisure,  206;  and  work,  207; 
democratic  view  of  child- 
hood, 4. 

Dewey,  John,  162. 

Diary,  quotation  from  a  boy's, 
126;  from  a  girl's,  130. 

Discipline,  theory  of,  235. 

Disease,  ehmination  of,  193f. 

Dramatization,  as  a  method, 
115;  capacity  for,  71 ;  drama- 
tic interests  of  boys  and 
girls,  lOlff. 


279 


280 


INDEX 


E 

Education,  and  democracy,  231; 
capacity  for,  147ff.,  155;  fac- 
tors in,  155ff.;  theory  of, 
5,  6;  versiLs  heredity,  92,  93; 
work  and  play  in,  217£f. 

EUmination  curves,  122,  123. 

Emotional  capacity,  131. 

Environment,  effect  of,  92,  93, 
111,  161. 

Exercise,  a  factor  in  health,  195. 

Experience,  differences  in,  84; 
individual  differences  due  to, 
92;  enlargement  of,  9,  25; 
effects  of,  10,  12,  15,  17,  84, 
87;  religious,  153. 


Family,  see  Habit;  basis  of 
common  life,  19;  differences 
due  to,  91;  loyalty  to,  65; 
socialization  through,  182; 
source  of  attitudes,  20;  sys- 
tem needed,  18. 

Fears,  33. 

Food,  a  factor  in  health,  195. 

Freedom  and  self-control,  75, 
232ff. 

Friendship,  67,  69. 

Functions,  biological  and  prefer- 
ential, 214;  controlHng  ten- 
dencies and  capacities,  147f.; 
functions  of  children,  222,  223. 


Games,  61,  64,  65.  See  Recrea- 
tion. 

Girls,  case  of  generous  impulse, 
159;    diary  quoted,  130;    de- 


scription of  a  thirteen-year- 
old,  124;  differences  from 
boys,  88. 

God,  17,  22,  35,  37,  38,  41,  172. 

Grace  at  table,  30. 

Group  competition  and  co- 
operation, 106ff.;  loyalty  to 
groups,   107. 

Growth,  60,  61,  86,  92,  98,  192. 

H 

Habit,  17,  18, 19,  20,  31,  32,  113. 
Hall,   G.   S.,    graphs   from  his 

Adolescence,  118,  119. 
Heredity,    90,    91,    92,    134ff., 

141ff. 
V  Hero-worship,  105,  110. 
Hobbies,  value  of,  218,  225. 
Hygiene,   home,    199;     mental, 

196f.;   personal,  191;   pubUc, 

198;  school,  200. 


Ideals,  control  by,  72,  73,  76, 
125;  development  of,  78,  113, 
155f.;   ideaUzation,  110,  126. 

Imagination,  16,  17,  25,  28, 
29,  30,  60,  71. 

Images,  28,  62. 

Imitation,  26,  27. 

Incidents  from  child  life,  254ff. 

Individuality,  12,  104f. 

Individual  differences,  88ff. 

Infancy,  139,  157,  203. 

Instincts,  as  tools,  147;  in- 
herited, 141,  143;  Hst  of, 
143ff . ;  of  boys  and  girls,  98. 

Parental  instinct,  31,  32,  64, 
98,  109,  151,  153. 


INDEX 


281 


Social  instincts,   149.     In-  Motives,  53,  73,  177. 

stincts    and    motives,     183;  Mumford,  Edith  E.  R.,  20. 
instincts  and  play,  203. 

Guiding  the  instincts,   32,  q 


Observation,  methods  of,  45ff. 
Order,  sense  of,  15ff. 
Original  nature,  143,  153,  155. 


64,  151,  183.  

InteUigence,  adolescent  changes      q^~^^^^  ^^^^  J- ""£ 

in,    131;     and   reUgion,    153, 

167;   babies,  7;    meaning  of, 

167f.;    individual  differences 

in,  89,  90,  91.  P 

Interests,  intellectual,  63,  110,      Peace    of    mind,    a    factor    in 

131;  of  childhood,  28,  29,  70,         health,  196. 


105. 

J 

Jesus,  for  the  five-year-old,  41, 

42. 
Justice,  sense  of,  15,  17,  67. 

K 

Ketchup  story,  29. 
Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.,  12,  29. 


Leadership,  106,  107. 
Learning,  process  of,  160ff. 
Leisure,  209,  219,  226. 
Lesson  planning,  170,  187. 
Life,  development  of,  135ff. 
Loyalty,  65,  107,  108. 


Pearson,  Karl,  89. 

Physical  changes,  43,  60,  61, 
97,  124,  127,  192. 

Play,  64,  65,  203ff. 

PotentiaUty,  mark  of  childhood, 
86. 

Prayer,  20,  34,  38,  39,  40,  73, 
113,  186. 

Prayers  of  children,  30,  34,  39, 
48,  70,  184. 

Projects  in  reUgious  education, 
162, 164. 

Purposes,  29,  50,  62,  72,  109. 
168f., 

Purposes  of  Christian  education, 
for  Beginners,  42;  for  early 
childhood,  77;  for  later  child- 
hood, 113. 


M 


Race,  differences  due  to,  90. 


Methods  in  reUgious  education.  Recapitulation,  140. 

43,   78,   114,   165,    170,    181,  Recreation,  206,  208,  210ff.,  220. 

186.     Typical  Sunday-school  ReUgion,  15,  17,  19,  21,  34,  109, 

methods,  159,  162,  170.  112,  119,  120,  152,  153,  160, 

Money,  use  of,  32,  33,  171.  169,  210. 

Morality,  moral  machinery,  8,  ReUgious  behavior,  46,  50,  72, 

18,  93,  158.    See  Habit.  75, 110, 161. 


282 


INDEX 


Reproduction,    process    of    cell 

division,  136f . 
Rest,  a  factor  in  health,  195. 
Royce,  J.,  10. 

S 
Satisfaction,  causes  of,  144flF. 
Self,  idea  of,   12,  25,  26,   132, 

234,  237. 
Self-control,  10,  47,  61,  74;  and 

democracy,  231,  236. 
Service,  social,  33,  66,  69,  114, 

115, 164, 171. 
Sex,    consciousness,    127,    132; 

differences  due  to,  88ff.,  138; 

education,  114,  128;   interest 

in,  125;    separation  of  sexes, 

100,  101. 
Snobbishness,  65,  68,  237. 
Social  education,  78,  79,  106ff., 

109,  110,  165,  236. 
Social  relations,  25,  26,  77,  97, 

147,  164. 
Social  tendencies,  5,  15,  25,  26, 

68,  132,  149. 
Socialization,  65,  107,  110,  132, 

182. 
Society  and  education,  3,  6. 


Standards  of  religious  conduct, 
30,  46,  62,  72,  105,  237; 
needed  by  children,  113;  pro- 
vided by  environment.  111; 
use  of,  73. 

Stories  by  an  eight-year-old  girl,  j 
241ff. 

Strayer  and  Norsworthy,  90. 

Study  of  children,  see  Observa- 
tion. 

Sunday,  use  of,  221. 


Tagore,  Rabindranath,  The  Be- 

ginning,  134. 
Thomas,  W.  I.,  129. 
The  Last  Stand,  a  play,  102. 
Thorndike,  E.  L.,  89,  90,  143, 

145,  194. 


Variation,    how    provided    for, 
137.     See   Individual   differ- 


W 


Springfield   Sunday-school   sur-      Woman,  creation  of,  129. 


vey,  122,  123. 


Worship,  80,  172.  See  Prayer. 


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